Industrialization, Capitalism and American Dream

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a novel whose veracity actually became a topic of federal investigation, provides another interesting example of the complex relation between fact and fiction and between naturalism and other literary and nonliterary discourses. The Jungle in many ways presents the appearance of a conventional novel: it has character, event, theme. Yet it is also profoundly shaped by the documentary strategy.Although the novel is organized biographically, the course of the protagonist Jurgis Rudkus's life follows a path which ensures that he will observe phenomena that interest Sinclair; he is conducted through a series of experiences that are not only representative but comprehensive, for this account of the meat-packing industry and the conditions of life for immigrant workers attempts to be encyclopedic.When the Rudkuses arrive in Chicago the first thing they do is tour the packinghouses, giving occasion for sentences like this one: â€Å"The chutes into which the hogs went climbed high up — to the very top of the distant buildings; and Jokubas explained that the hogs went up by the power of their own legs, and then their weight carried them back through all the processes necessary to make them into pork. † As Jurgis and other members of his family take jobs in various parts of the plants, the different operations — slaughtering, processing, canning and so on — are described in more detail.Jurgis also works in a harvester factory and a steel mill, passing through periods of prosperity and of unemployment and want; eventually almost every vicissitude of working-class life befalls Jurgis or one of his relatives. Jurgis himself begins as a strong and successful wage earner, but he is injured on a job and has great difficulty supporting himself while recovering, spends time in jail after a conflict with a foreman, tramps in both the country and the city, joins a union but later works as a scab and then as a foreman, rea ps the benefits of corrupt machine politics, and finally becomes a Socialist.His wife is sexually exploited by her boss and dies in childbirth without competent medical care. His son drowns in a muddy street in Packingtown. His father dies of an illness caused by a job. His cousin becomes a prostitute. What Jurgis cannot experience at firsthand he learns about from others; for example, his cousin tells harrowing stories of women forced into prostitution and explains why she cannot save any money working in a brothel: â€Å"‘I am charged for my room and my meals and such prices as you never heard of; and then for extras, and drinks for everything I get, and some I don't.‘ . . . Seeing that Jurgis was interested, she went on: ‘That's the way they keep the girls — they let them run up debts, so they can't get away'† (p. 352). Jurgis even rounds out our map of the social order when he â€Å"chances† to meet the drunken son of a packing-house owner and is taken into a mansion built by a meat fortune to see how the other half lives. The novel is episodic, even disjointed, if one attempts to organize it in terms of plot; its coherence derives from the documentary strategy.Its events are linked not directly to one another but through their common connection with the abstraction of the â€Å"jungle† and their relevance to the topic of the Chicago meat-packing industry and the lives of its â€Å"wage slaves. † The Jungle demonstrates the metonymic, accretive nature of the documentary strategy, for despite its aspiration to provide a totalizing map of Chicago its most characteristic procedure is to pile horror upon horror just as London does in The People of the Abyss.The action of The Jungle is produced less by the characters' choices than by their reactions as one disaster after another bursts upon them. When Jurgis and his family buy a house, they discover that â€Å"it was not new at all, as they had supposed; it was about fifteen years old, and there was nothing new upon it but the paint, which was so bad that it needed to be put on new every year or two. The house was one of a whole row that was built by a company which existed to make money by swindling poor people.The family had paid fifteen hundred dollars for it, and it had not cost the builders five hundred, when it was new† (p. 77). They find that they owe not just the monthly payments they have been told of but interest, so that it will be almost impossible for them to keep up the payments, and â€Å"when they failed — if it were only by a single month — they would lose the house and all that they had paid on it, and then the company would sell it over again† (pp. 77-78).Portraying a political awakening is one way of suggesting the possibility of profound social change without violating the conventions of realism, and it is a strategy that emerges still more strongly in a later genre that has many affiniti es with naturalism, the proletarian novel. Jurgis's transformation strikes the reader as such a dissonant and discontinuous element in this novel because it so obviously requires him to leave his native realm of victimage to become a character who exercises free will.There is no pretense in The Jungle that the group Sinclair is writing about is the same or even has much in common with the group he is writing for. In a gesture we have encountered before, we find the narrator and reader clearly marked off from the characters by the very languages they use: Sinclair prefaces one description with the remark that â€Å"the reader, who perhaps has never held much converse in the language of far-off Lithuania, will be glad of the explanation that . . . † (p. 2).Although the only things that are recognizably Lithuanian about the Rudkuses are their names ( Sinclair even provides a footnote to tell us how to pronounce â€Å"Jurgis†), they are certainly foreigners. One might deba te the exact degree of irony in that â€Å"perhaps† — I think it is considerable — and attempt to measure the exact width of this chasm between classes, but its existence is taken for granted. Throughout the novel the naturalist plays the role of the readers' guide and interpreter in an alien land. But he is not a native of that land either.Sinclair tells us in his autobiography that his own painful experiences of want — that is, his confrontation with proletarianization, to which his autobiography testifies at length — imbue the book with anguish, but that he is a stranger to the â€Å"jungle† of Chicago. The book is based on his research during â€Å"seven weeks lived among the wage slaves of the Beef Trust, as we called it in those days. People used to ask me afterward if I had not spent my life in Chicago, and I answered that if I had done so, I could never have written The Jungle; I would have taken for granted things that now hit me a sudden violent blow.I went about, white-faced and thin, partly from undernourishment, partly from horror. † 25 Despite the novel's affirmation of the possibilities for change, the realms of knowledge and experience, the worlds of the observer and the participant, remain polarized, joined only by the narrator's pity and good intentions. Nevertheless, The Jungle is famous as a novel that changed the world: an important progressive reform, the passage of the Meat Inspection and Pure Food and Drug Acts in 1906, is widely attributed to the public furore over conditions in the meat-packing industry that it created.(It was this that motivated the intense scrutiny of Sinclair's facts. ) But as Sinclair himself recognized, the movement for the inspection of meat had originated with the big packers themselves and ultimately benefited them by providing a guarantee of quality at government expense and removing obstacles to meat exporting. 26 And the reforms demanded by the horrified read ers of The Jungle addressed not the condition of the workers but the menace of the unsanitary practices Sinclair reported — what bothered them was less the claim that men fell into the cooking vatsand died agonizing deaths than the revolting idea that â€Å"all but the bones of them had gone out to the world as Durham's Pure Leaf Lard! † (p. 117). Sinclair wrote, â€Å"I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach. † 27 He was neither the first nor the last socialist to set out to write of the iniquities of class society and find himself enmeshed in the mysteries of consumer society.In a characteristic naturalist gesture, Sinclair appeals to his readers to pity the miserable, thwarted lives of the other half; yet he also pays a great deal of attention to unclean meat and does not distinguish the two concerns so clearly as his lament would seem to suggest. The revolting truth about meat revealed an avenue by which the unclean horrors of a world outside the campfire found their way into that well-lighted, respectable circle and exposed a potentially contaminating contact between the disorder of the slaughterhouse district and the haven of the middle-class home.Although it clearly did not capture Sinclair's full intent, the impulse to regulate and rationalize the meat-packing industry was a perfectly consistent response to Sinclair's plea for reform. The connection illustrates the fundamental structural similarity, seen here in miniature and in Chapter 4 at length, between naturalism and progressivism. The social problems of Industrialization As depicted in The Jungle this century has seen dramatic changes in this pattern.With the advent of legal equalitarianism, Industrialization, and a general rise in humanitarianism, social fixity has been succeeded, for thousands of groups, by a high degree of mobility. With the blurring of traditional social class lines and the removal of the more flagrant legal and economic priv ileges of certain classes, there has been marked change in the whole status structure of modern society. With a culture in which the ethic of success is compelling, it is only to be expected that status striving will become obsessive for large numbers of persons.The struggle to succeed, to belong, to influence, lies behind remarkable achievements in all areas of our society. But it also lies behind some of the tragedies: lives broken by the struggle; individuals driven to means that are not tolerated by society, even though the ends which dictate the means are tolerated; children, as well as adults, who seek status security where they can find it, even when it lies in illegal or unmoral contexts. There is wreckage as well as achievement written in the story of social mobility.Wherever the world's population is experiencing Industrialization, family systems are also undergoing some changes, though not all these are being recorded. This means that at least some of the elements of the old family patterns, such as arranged marriages in China, are dissolving. Of course, if a family system is undergoing change, the rates of occurrence of these forms of disorganization, such as divorce, separation, illegitimacy, or desertion, may change. However, the new system may have lower rates of occurrence of certain forms of disorganization.For example, the divorce rates in Arab Algeria and in Japan have been declining for half a century. In several Latin American countries, the rate of illegitimacy has apparently been decreasing. Prolonging life in industrialized countries has meant that fewer children must face orphan hood. Aside from these facts, the main structure of a family system may be altered only slightly by such changes in rates. Finally, though the old set of patterns is in part dissolved, it is usually replaced by a new set of patterns which is as determinate and controlling as the old one was.Despite the importance of these forms of family disorganization for the individuals in the family, and thus for the society, the legal and formal structures of the society reflect little concern with these problems. If a couple in the United States decides to separate, no agency of the society acts, or is even empowered to find out that a separation occurred, unless the wife seeks financial support. There are few customs to guide the illegitimate mother or father, and once again the state moves only in narrowly defined circumstances (e. g.if the mother wants to get on the relief rolls). If a wife becomes schizophrenic, or a child is born an idiot, few customs exist to help guide the family members and the formal agencies of the society do not act unless asked to do so. How Capitalism is hostile to the American Dream? The American Dream has been that every generation could look forward to a better life for its children. Is the dream becoming a nightmare? It is now actively discussed that Capitalism can not avoid a housing crisis that makes the word home a mockery to millions of families.Capitalism can not avoid laying off men in favor of more profitable machines. It can not avoid depressions, when consumers can not buy, nor threats of war to stimulate business. Capitalism can not avoid edging to the brink of war, constantly, to secure raw materials and markets, and to exploit the labor power of other countries. Capitalism makes a travesty of political democracy when a poor man's vote gives him choice only among candidates and polices which may be good for the largest corporations, but not for him. We have a noble traditon of democracy in this land.The changes, as it has moved from an economy of scarcity in an undeveloped country to high production in a mechanized economy, demand that democracy be brought up to date. The rule of a few families controlling the nation's resources is not the same thing as the rule of the people of the United States over themselves. Either we must have economic democracy, or we shall lose the political democracy our fathers fought and died to win. References Acemoglu, Daron. 2003. Cross-country inequality trends. Economic Journal 113 (February): 121–49. Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson.2002. Reversal of fortune: Geography and institutions in the making of the modern world income distribution. Quarterly Journal of Economics 117 (November): 1231–94. Aizcorbe, Ann M. , Arthur B. Kennickell, and Kevin B. Moore. 2003. Recent changes in U. S. family finances. Federal Reserve Bulletin (January): 1–31. Alesina Alberto F. , Rafael Di Tella, and Robert MacCulloch. 2003. Inequality and happiness: Are Europeans and Americans different? Unpublished working paper (March). Bertola, Guiseppe, Francine D. Blau, and Lawrence M. Kahn. 2001.Comparative analysis of labor market outcomes: Lessons for the United States from international long-run evidence. In Krueger and Solow (2001): 159–218. Friedman, Milton. 1982. Capitalism and freedom. Chicago: Univers ity of Chicago Press. Garibaldi, Pietro, and Paolo Mauro. 1999. Deconstructing job creation. IMF Working Paper 99/109 (August). Giersch, Herbert. 1999. Marktokonomik fur die offene Gesellschaft. Walter-AdolfJohr Lecture. Gordon, Robert J. 2001. Discussion of Deunionization, technical change and inequality, by Daron Acemoglu, Philippe Aghion, and Giovanni L. Violante.Paper prepared for the Carngie-Rochester Conference Series of Public Policy (February). Greenspan, Alan. 2003. The Reagan legacy. Remarks at the Ronald Reagan Library, Simi Valley, CA (April 9). Houtenville, Andrew J. 2001. Income mobility in the United States and Germany: A comparison of two classes of mobility measures using the GSOEP, PSID, and CPS. Vierteljahreshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung 70, no. 1, pp. 59–65. Krueger, Dirk, and Krishna B. Kumar. 2004. US-Europe differences in technologydriven growth: Quantifying the role of education. Journal of Monetary Economics, no. 51, pp. 161–90.Lewis, Michael. 2002. In defense of the boom. New York Times Magazine (October 27): 44ff. Maddison, Angus. 2001. The world economy: A millennial perspective. OECD Development Centre Studies. Paris. Sachs, Jeffrey D. 2003. Institutions matter, but not for everything. International Monetary Fund Finance & Development 40, no. 2 (June): 38–41. Sanchez, Thomas W. , Robert E. Lang, and Dawn Dhavale. 2003. Security versus status? A first look at the Census' gated community data. Metropolitan Institute, Alexandria, VA (July). Sinclair, Upton. 1906 The Jungle. New York: Doubleday, Page, and Company.

Prison Reforms Essay

Prisons as often been indicated, are total institutions. They are total in the sense that much of the aspects of an individuals life is out of his or her control. Within prisons, the human life as we know it is subjected to numerous constraints which include spatial confinement impacting on the freedom of movement. It has often been stated that prisons adversely affect the normal development and growth of individuals as the aging process is normally accelerated. Prisons take physical toll on an individual’s body as it has been estimated that an inmate doing any amount of time will look ten years older than their actual age (Cordilia, 1983). However, one certain fact is that prisoners are â€Å"doing time†. This is a phrase normally used to refer to the human suffering characteristic of individuals and their life within the confines of the prison. Statistical evidence show that correctional officers suffer from all types of conditions related with stress due to their conditions and state within the prisons. Such include serious alcohol abuse, depression, heart attacks, hypertension and ulcers. According to Silverman and Vega (1996), an individual’s life expectancy is reduced by more than eighty percent when serving any amount of years in the prison. This points towards prisons being â€Å"hard† places where human life as we understand it is reduced to something indescribable. As much as prisons are meant to deter crimes, more often that not, they emerge as schools of crime. An individual after serving his or her sentences emerges into the society with a new set of skills which ultimately threatens the society even more. Most individuals found guilty of various crimes go in as petty and sometimes as non-violent offenders only to come out as different individuals exhibiting violence and serious tendencies. It has been noticed that serious and violent crimes are committed a specific group of individuals known as seven seventy theory where seventy percent of crimes are committed by seven percent of offenders (Wolfgang et. al. 1792). Within three years of their release, two thirds of individuals released from prison will be back. Could it be that the prisons may not be doing enough to model prisoners so they may be integrated in the society or are the prisons better places to be for some people? The latter is unlikely since the conditions within prisons are deplorable. How then do the prisons serve their purpose and how can they be reformed? In order to answer the question, it is imperative to look at what it means to serve a sentence in prison. Within the prison system, there are sets of codes that govern life within the prisons. There are the official general administrative rules and regulation, codes which govern convicts, the color line and rules set by gangs which are often referred to as gang membership rules (Hackett, et. al. 1986). The official rules are the acceptable codes within the prisons. That is, they are the dos and the don’ts. The convict codes on the other hand are the perceived description of what or how a good or perfect convict should be. Color line seems invisible but one is bound to notice it especially when specific races dominate various turf areas. Gang codes are underground outlines for enterprises run by criminals. All these tend to shape the prison system and any attempt at reforms must focus on these codes and how they affect individuals who have been incarcerated. It cannot be denied that the condition of prisoners is affected by these codes which govern the relationship among the subjects within the confines of prison. As such, various aspects like health, violence, death and infections can be attributed to how the system handles the outbreak of such things as stated in the prison laws (Johnson, 1996). For instance, there are some administrative laws which may negatively impact on the wellbeing of prisoners, or there may be policies which may impact negatively on correctional officers. Beyond these internal factors, there are some measures which may result in prisons being overcrowded. Coupled with the rules which exist within the prisons, overcrowding may facilitate the spread of diseases within the prison. Of all the problems which characterize prison life, diseases and violence are the most dreaded (Sykes, 1958). However, the structure of the prisons may determine how such occurrences are treated so that they do not result in catastrophes. The existence of codes within the prison system which seem to govern the conduct of both inmates and correctional officers should be one of the major focus of reforms. For instance, convict codes do not actually prohibit violence, rape or killing other inmates. The ultimate tool of control within the prisons being segregation where an inmate is confined for a given period of time, an individual may be exposed to various dangers which may result in harm (Toch, 1977). As much as inmates are considered to be social outcasts, there still exist some inalienable rights which they possess. Such includes the right to life. For prisons to effectively perform their functions, there is need for serious reforms. An individual’s inalienable rights are affected when they are exposed to conditions which make them vulnerable to diseases, violence and a general stare of disorder. Such are the prison conditions. With overcrowding, there is bound to be numerous problems which culminate into what can be termed as human rights abuse both by fellow inmates and prison officers. Overcrowding also means that diseases can easily spread which has a consequence of endangering the lives of the inmates. Hard criminals are also bound to take advantage of newly imprisoned individuals. As such, prison reforms must address how such groups are differentiated so as to avoid such eventualities as rapes and murders. As much as prison reforms may be focused on the inmates, the work of correctional officers should not be overlooked. There are instances when inmates attack correctional officers leading to serious situations hence making their jobs to be difficult. With this regard, prison reforms should also look at ensuring ways of guaranteeing the safety of the correctional officers since they are bound to be harmed by hardcore criminals and gangs. Since an inmate cannot be tried twice, there is an element of immunity to the judicial system which may lead them to hurt correctional officers with impunity. Active measures must be taken to ensure that correctional officers are ascertained safety within the scope of their practice since they are the people solely responsible for ensuring that criminals remain where they belong. Much of prison reforms have focused in improving the condition of prisoners by introducing in one way or another some form of entertainment. As much as these may be necessary, the main focus of reforms should be to ensure that released convicts do not pose any threat to the society after completing their term. Contrary to most reforms, prisons should not be turned into holiday camps for prisoners as this is bound to have an effect on the rate of crime. Any serious prison reform instead should focus on the condition of prisoners in terms of basic facilities like beds and adequate meals so that the inmates’ lives may not be threatened by diseases resulting from overcrowding and poor sanitary. As such, prison reforms must be far fetched so as to encompass the prison environment in totality. A way through which inmates and correctional officers can better cooperate so that the prison conditions can be improved should also be the focus of reforms. However, there is often a struggle which exists between the inmates and the correctional officers (Braswell et. al, 1994). As such, there are often some elements of animosity between the convicts and the inmates. This animosity at times become so severe that is expressed violently. This makes it virtually impossible for meaningful reforms to be achieved since, beside those reforms that need adjusting facilities, enforcing rules become a tragedy. Since it is possible that convicts can come out of prisons and still be productive members of the society, there is need to equip them with knowledge which will guarantee their survival when their terms end. Such knowledge should guide them in dropping the criminal mindset that they have developed so as not to end up in prisons again. This may not be as easy but with good cooperation between the education sector and the prisons department, some inmates may further their academic dreams while still serving their sentences. This is however not easily achievable because the society is often suspicious of individuals who have a history of crime. Even with exceptional skills, the society is bound to distrust released convicts. However, there are those convicts whose desire is to once again integrate into the society and join their family members while performing productive duties. The government together with the prison’s department should collaborate to ensure that such individuals do not waste their lives in prison perfecting the art of crime. Every convict who has completed his or her time should be guided through active reforms within the prisons that ensure that they do not find themselves resorting to crime as a means of sustenance especially for those criminals involved with robbery, burglary and theft. Educational programs have been successful in curbing the tendency of released inmates to commit crimes. Inmates who successfully completed a high school diploma or GED are less likely to commit crimes after release than those who have not attained similar education. As such, education for the inmates should also be the focus of serious reforms. A major setback for such education programs is that few inmates can access them. Only five percent of the inmate population can access these educative and rehabilitation programs which is a very small percentage as compared to those that these programs are meant. The main challenge for any reforms targeting prisons is not only how to guarantee the wellbeing of prisoners when they are inside the prisons but also how to integrate them in the society after their terms are over without posing any threat to the society. Any meaningful prison reforms should focus on prisons as a means of achieving an end and not as an end in itself (Goldstein et. al. 1989). For example, prisons should focus on how to ensure that once a person has been declared unfit to live with others within the society, they should be modeled to acquire the skills of avoiding to engage in criminal acts and thus extend the good virtues which the society seek to further as criminality is just a state of mind which can also be altered just like other states of mind.

Is aid good or bad?

Aid is a form of help usually given by the wealthy areas of the world to the poorer areas. Aid tries to help countries to develop and improve their standards of living and quality life. There are many advantages and disadvantages to giving aid. The aid that we give can save lives in times of disaster! Giving aid can help to reconstruct livings and housing after a disaster. Aid can also provide medical training, medicines and equipment. This will improve health and standards of living because in other countries, medical care is very expensive and not very good.It is hard for them to get well trained staff, and the right equipment so if another country can provide this for them, they can give better quality medical attention to more people and for less money. This will save many lives because in a poor country, some people cannot afford to get help and they die, or they get attention but it is not helpful because they don’t have well trained staff, or the right medicine and equi pment. Aid for agriculture will increase food production and the quality and quantity of food available.This will also improve health and standards of living for the people who don’t have food because there will be more available. Aid for industrial development will not only improve transport organisation, but it will also create jobs for those who are jobless and who need money for their families. However, there are some disadvantages of giving aid. Giving aid can cause on Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDC’s) to rely on richer countries to supply them with all that they need. Sometimes aid is a loan, not a gift, and poor countries may find it hard to pay back what they owe.They could get so used to just getting all they need for nothing and failing to progress themselves! Another disadvantage is that the people who need aid the most, may not actually receive it. For example if medical aid was given to a country, they might use it to get well trained staff, a nd lots of equipment and medicine, just making the prices higher, causing less people being able to afford it, which leads to less people with medical attention, and more people dying or politicians could use the aid for their own means or for political gain.Or, rather than the aid helping to create more jobs, they could just use it to benefit the people who already have jobs by paying them more. Giving aid could also lead to prices of food and water going up. This could happen if the country spends a lot of money on improving the quality of the food and water then the price ends up increasing. In conclusion, although aid is not always used in the right way, I think that it is a very good thing to give. If aid is shared equally then it is very useful and will really help the country develop and improve their standards of living and quality life. Is aid good or bad? Aid is a form of help usually given by the wealthy areas of the world to the poorer areas. Aid tries to help countries to develop and improve their standards of living and quality life. There are many advantages and disadvantages to giving aid. The aid that we give can save lives in times of disaster! Giving aid can help to reconstruct livings and housing after a disaster. Aid can also provide medical training, medicines and equipment. This will improve health and standards of living because in other countries, medical care is very expensive and not very good.It is hard for them to get well trained staff, and the right equipment so if another country can provide this for them, they can give better quality medical attention to more people and for less money. This will save many lives because in a poor country, some people cannot afford to get help and they die, or they get attention but it is not helpful because they don’t have well trained staff, or the right medicine and equi pment. Aid for agriculture will increase food production and the quality and quantity of food available.This will also improve health and standards of living for the people who don’t have food because there will be more available. Aid for industrial development will not only improve transport organisation, but it will also create jobs for those who are jobless and who need money for their families. However, there are some disadvantages of giving aid. Giving aid can cause on Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDC’s) to rely on richer countries to supply them with all that they need. Sometimes aid is a loan, not a gift, and poor countries may find it hard to pay back what they owe.They could get so used to just getting all they need for nothing and failing to progress themselves! Another disadvantage is that the people who need aid the most, may not actually receive it. For example if medical aid was given to a country, they might use it to get well trained staff, a nd lots of equipment and medicine, just making the prices higher, causing less people being able to afford it, which leads to less people with medical attention, and more people dying or politicians could use the aid for their own means or for political gain.Or, rather than the aid helping to create more jobs, they could just use it to benefit the people who already have jobs by paying them more. Giving aid could also lead to prices of food and water going up. This could happen if the country spends a lot of money on improving the quality of the food and water then the price ends up increasing. In conclusion, although aid is not always used in the right way, I think that it is a very good thing to give. If aid is shared equally then it is very useful and will really help the country develop and improve their standards of living and quality life.

Introduction to Personal and Preofessional Practice Essay

Introduction to Personal and Preofessional Practice - Essay Example As a student at the University of Central Lancashire, I got the opportunity to learn different things that were related to my academic and personal experiences. Responsibility and Initiative in the marketing class During the module, I have learned the importance of responsibility and initiative. Responsibility refers to being accountable for decisions and actions, and University students are expected to be responsible and take initiative in their tasks (Baker, 2009). I have had to initiate conversations with members of the faculty, make intelligent choices about the courses to take and critically decide which marketing-related clubs I needed to join. University is very different from high school, and as much as there were several advising programs in the University, many decisions were left in the hands of the students. I was faced with a responsibility over my life and I had to take initiative so as to ensure successful completion of my course. University was also quite different fr om home since I had been used to letting my parents make the choices for me. I needed to learn how to become independent, confident and accountable for all my actions. These needs were preparing me for the future since after school there are many opportunities that require responsibility and initiative: family life and working life. ... Also I ensured that I took a balanced diet since there was nobody to make the choices on my behalf. So far I have learnt about the best ways to choose activities that can contribute to one’s overall wellbeing. Being a vegetarian meant that I had to maintain a good balance of all food groups. I joined the Christian group so that I could get a religious identity, and this gave me spiritual nourishment. I participated in several Badminton and Chess competitions whereby I won five awards, and that success made me realize that I was good in those two sports. The process of making wise decisions about my physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wellness gave me a basis for future responsibility over my wellbeing and that of others. Course work and Time management I realized that the main obligation that I had in the University was my academic career. Marketing course required that I participate in community- based projects, school- based projects and all events organized by marketi ng department. It also needed more studying hours than other subjects since it covered a wide range of topics. I had several non- academic activities that would compete for my time but I realized that time management was key to ensuring that I balanced all of them. I had a problem understanding that my course required more than just the allocated class time. However, I talked to a faculty member and he advised me that I needed to do more personal studies so that I could research and understand what I had been taught in class. At the University, we had work-study jobs that students would do during their part time, and I decided to do them too since they would prepare me for employments in future. As I did my studies, I took up a part time job in

SERVICES MARKETING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

SERVICES MARKETING - Essay Example At this time also, they have incorporated the business, and gave the store a name. They decided on the bee as it symbolizes a busy creature and added jolly because owner said they are always happy people. So the name Jollibee was born. The owner of the company, Mr. Tony Tan Caktiong, always believed in giving added value to their customers. He wanted to satisfy the customers always, so in serving ice cream, he saw to it that it was served in big bowls and that it should be overflowing with ice cream. Jollibee has been considered by the Far Eastern Review in 2003 as the Best Company in the Philippines. It has reached the system wide sales of P28.8 billion and a net income rising to 20.8 percent in 2003. Jollibee remained settled and was not threatened with the coming of MacDonalds in 1982. MacDonalds is known in the US, and it is an entirely new concept in the Philippines. The burger houses that they established were big and attractive. The introduction of new products and recipes were simple in the beginning. The members of the family just sat down and discuss. The Caktiong family members are good cooks, their father was a chef and their mother was a good cook. The spaghetti is a recipe of Tony’ s sister who experimented on it, and then started serving the dish on the store. The fried chicken recipe was likewise an experiment of mix that the family tried. There was no formal structure and yet customers came in with their families to line up in the store, whether it is for a sit-down or take out food. Filipinos have an inherent love for sweet tasting good food. According to Mr. Caktiong, a lot of their consultants were amazed with the sweet side food preference of Filipinos. Aside from taste, Filipinos are attracted to the smell of food. Filipinos believed that if it smells good – it will taste good. Jollibee today. The set up is different today, as

The Role of Micro and Macro Factors In Business Decision Making Essay

The Role of Micro and Macro Factors In Business Decision Making - Essay Example This paper illustrates that economics enables firm’s in making the decision related to the production such as infrastructure and input cost, number of units, number of labor and their wages, and utility expenses, etc. are in a way to meet the market demand profitably. Additionally, the pricing decisions with profit margins are conducted on the basis of the competitive landscape of the business. All these plays defining a role in the future revenue stream for the business. Also, economics enables firm’s in making the decision-related to the production such as infrastructure and input cost, number of units, number of labor and their wages, and utility expenses, etc. are in a way to meet the market demand profitably. Additionally, the pricing decisions with profit margins are conducted on the basis of the competitive landscape of the business. All these are critical to maintaining the economic objective of achieving profitability for the firm. In addition to this, a manufa cturing concern like other businesses is also required to understand the macroeconomic factors. For example, government policies in the UK are attractive for local and international wind energy producers. These investments have the role in generating employment. The unemployment level and labor policy of the government will determine the cost of labor for the business (both skilled and unskilled). It also has an impact in determining the future demand for the business product. UK government has also lowered taxation to attract investors in the energy sector. In addition to these fiscal and monetary policy implications, GDP of the economy that determines the purchasing power of the people, etc. Also, the international trade regulations and policies of the country are also important to understand in case the input is imported from abroad or is to be exported to other countries. Hence, business economic play a guiding role in surviving and running and business successfully.

Securities Act of 1934 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Securities Act of 1934 - Essay Example SEC offers a one-time registration of all the securities that wish to trade on the national stock exchange. The registration incorporates companies with 2000 shareholders or 500 unaccredited investors. Moreover, the company’s assets should amount to $10 million. Through regulating voting information calls for full exposure as an objective of the proxy solicitation. Here, representing the interests of shareholders and earlier filling is priority. The proxy statement should be detailed with the soliciting information. The 1934 Act antifraud provision entails regulating the propriety of sales within the marketplace. The specific sections of the antifraud act are Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5. Here, it is stated that withholding of information interferes with the free market, and it is committing fraud through violating Section 10(b). Lastly, SEC objective calls for periodic filing under the 1934 Act. Companies have to file a quarter and annual financial reports known as 10-Q and 1 0-K respectively.

Whole Foods Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Whole Foods - Case Study Example Thus, changing business dynamics to suit the transforming business environment ensure that companies not only survive but are also able to maintain their competitive advantage within the industry. The paper would therefore be analyzing Whole Food Inc for business initiatives that has helped them to maintain their market position even during the recessive period. Analysis of Whole Food Whole Food Market was started in 1980 in Austin, Texas as local supermarket that focused on natural and health food with emphasis on organically produced food products. As one of the largest retail market chains of organic food, the company’s 276 retail outlets across US, UK and Canada have seen stupendous revenue growth of 30% by 1991 and 20% since 2000. The company intends to achieve a target of 400 stores with revenue worth $12 billion by 2010. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Food, has been an exemplary leader whose intrinsic beliefs in the strategic vision and core values of the company have steere d it to the path of enviable success. Strategic vision and core values Company’s vision is to become a global brand for best quality natural and organic food and best food retailer in every community that it serves. The mission statements of the company are designed to meet the food requirements of the people by providing them with healthy food so that they can lead a healthier life and live longer. The core values of the company highlight sustainable business practice and are fundamentally based on ensuring customer satisfaction not only through quality food that is organically produced by also by empowering them with knowledge and information that would promote their general well being. The core values are aligned to their vision and mission. Interests of all stakeholders including workforce, customers and supply chain is taken into consideration within the business strategy of Whole Food. Business strategy and operational efficiency The company ensures customer satisfactio n by providing them with high quality of natural and organically produced wide variety of food products. The Whole Food stores had large, open format on huge area, often exceeding 40,000 square feet. The stores had well defined segments with cafeteria facility which ensured that customers could also taste and test the quality food that they would be buying. The brochures and information about food products and sustainable business practice were made available. The organizational culture emphasizes diversity in workplace and promotes cross cultural understanding to create barrier free and encouraging environment. The team leaders within the stores are empowered to make independent decisions that ensures improved performance outcome. The company fulfills its social accountabilities through measures of employees’ welfare schemes, environmental concerns and charitable works in the area of education, training and development of entrepreneurial skills etc. Its suppliers of food pro ducts from low waged countries were helped financially to ensure quality produce that also helped them to raise their living standard. It has introduced various innovative measures to propagate its environmental policies among its in-house staff and business partners. It has also facilitated wider interaction with various focus groups and forged alliances to motivate and promotes proactive participation of the public and workforce in its drive for environmental conservations. The growth plans of companies are primarily through opening of new stores and through acquisition of smaller stores which have also been into the same business. The company’s philosophy of ‘Whole Food, Whole People, Whole Planet’

English101 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

English101 - Essay Example You meet this type of friends in school, gym or while travelling. You might also not remember how they look like once you not meet them for a short period of time. This type of friends will not have much of an impact on your life. You do not miss them when they are away from you. You generally do not object their company and will like to have a cup of tea or coffee with them. But if you are in the midst of some work you don’t mind parting with their company. One may know this type of friends throughout their school career, but they might never talk to each other outside their school. These friends are nice to talk to but you never intend to have anything more relationship with them. You just talk with them and then go on your merry way. You talk with them on common topics like hobbies or classes. And you don’t talk with them about your personal life. These types of friends may also irritate you the most. As you think that you are supposed to behave in a friendly manner with them you may not point out some of their bad habits such as taping the fingers on a table or chewing gum loudly. A guest friend is also known as a former friend. These are the friends who grew up with you in your neighbourhood and then moved away. These are the friends with whom you spend much of a time of your childhood. These friends form a major part of your enjoyment during the childhood days. You would love their company any time. These friends will bring memories about your childhood days. You might get embarrassed on first seeing these friends. But as the conversation starts between you, you seem to love it and will like to spend more amount of time with them. You may miss them once in a blue moon when somebody makes you to realise that you are adult and you cannot behave in a manner you used to behave during your childhood days. You would always like to meet these types of friends and they are closer to you than the pest friends. The relationship between you is

French Existentialism Philosophers Essay Example for Free

French Existentialism Philosophers Essay Gabriel Marcel is known to be one of the more religious philosophers who was a French Existentialist. He was a committed Catholic Philosopher and he believed that by being connected to others he will be connected to god. He believed that philosophy should be about hope and wanted to portray the more positive aspects of human characteristics through his writings and thoughts. Marcel has a belief that problems and mysteries were two separate ideas where problems exist outside and apart from ourselves and mysteries were unsolved queries that were more internal to one’s self. For example determining what a body is, is a problem and determining what my body is, is a mystery. He believes that we can use primary and secondary reflections in order to seek a solution to the problem or mystery being faced with. Primary reflections use analytical skills to separate the thinker from the problematic object in order to find a resolution. Separating the thinker from the problem is important in order to effectively reflect and create intellectual and moral means to a solution. Primary reflections use means of abstracting data and using it in order to manipulate the world and deal with the problem that is not always black and white or a right or wrong answer. Primary reflection approaches problems from an objective standpoint where the thinker is separate from the problem while the secondary reflection begins with the experience of existence within the problem and is used with reflection of a mystery. The secondary reflection is open to contemplation by looking at it as a unique presence. The existence within the world is not a problem that needs to be solved because humans and their bodies are intrinsically related to the world and they are in relation to each other, not objects or problems that can be manipulated. Marcel believed that Philosophy is a part of reflecting on a mystery and the mystery requires participation of the person reflecting because it is an experience of presence itself. A mystery involves you as an intrinsical part of the question which is a question of yourself and requires a solution by secondary reflection. A question becomes a mystery when it takes itself into the subject. Marcel believes that humans are increasingly becoming defined by their problems which cause alienation of themselves from themselves and also causing separation from others. The questions of â€Å"being† and humans are mysteries within the Marcel philosophies. When something is recognized as â€Å"not being† it cannot be a mystery. As humans we have a need for â€Å"being† with â€Å"ontological exigence† which consumes â€Å"being† upsurges of joy, happiness, hopefulness, expectations and desires. â€Å"Being† as a human means existing and experiencing the world and the subjects within it. Having something means exercising power over that thing by possession and rights to those possessions. By having rights over a possession can also enables that person to have the ability of disposal of that subject as well. Having something is different from experiencing that thing, for example having a body is different form experiencing your body because you cannot rid yourself of your body without ceasing to be. Life is not identical to a person’s â€Å"being† because â€Å"being† is the whole self which is more than life and it is what a person aspires to be. Humans can only evoke the fullness of â€Å"being† by engaging with others and coming together as a community. Marcel promotes the idea of living I-Thou which opens up and enhances a person’s â€Å"being† which God being the ultimate Thou. The I-Thou idea requires a person to be open to the â€Å"being† of others within their lives and not living only for themselves. Marcel has an interesting stance on the subject of love and how it should be defined. He believes that love has to do with inner subjectivity and it is about seeking and experiencing the â€Å"being† of the other. Love is not about possession or having another person which is commonly thought to be the main definition of what love means. Marcel believes that a self does not love, but it is the self that is constituted by love. When we attach predicates to a thou we limit our love for another and it’s trust and faith which constitutes love in the â€Å"being† of the other. I always thought that love had to do with possessing and labeling a person or subject as yours. However, Marcel’s philosophy on love has changed my point of view into believing that love is about fully accepting a person as who they are instead of trying to possess them and changing them into being an object of your desire and control. Part B: In Simone Beauvoir’s writing of The Ethics of Ambiguity she begins to elaborate on ethics and the importance of a moral obligation to overcome oppression. Moral acts and willing one’s self free is an obligation of a person in order to become a moral person. With moral freedom a person is not free unless they can deal with free individuals. We all should strive for our freedom as well as the freedom of others and the freedom of all. The freedom to choose is shaped by social and political freedom of people. Beauvoir believes that in order to free all we must take a stand for justice especially in the political sense. We ought to respect freedom when it serves freedom, but not when freedom distances itself from itself. For example when freedom is used in the oppression and the abuse of others, we ought not to respect it in cases such as a dictatorship oppressing the freedom of its people. Oppressing an oppressor is justified even when it requires violence and in cases of people rising up and rebelling the person or the system that has been oppressing them it is justifiable. In such cases casualties of war with sacrifices is justified when fighting for freedom because it makes it a just war. Simone Beauvoir states â€Å"the truth is that if division and violence define war, the world has always been at war and will always be; if man is waiting for universal peace in order to establish his existence validly, he will wait indefinitely: there will never be any other future. † (Beauvoir ) With this she means that if the only reasons for war are for violence to annihilate the other opponent because of division then war will never end and people will never reach complete liberation. However, oppressing and oppressor should never be driven by blind faith. The actions must be considered fully well and deliberate over choice. Each circumstance should be considered on a case by case basis and analyzed by practical problems. Ethics emphasize physical and social interaction in relation to other human beings because of freedom. Authentic morality involves engagement with the world that is not abstract intellectualism. People who sit by and talk about the problems and the circumstances that accustom the world are not engaging with the world directly. Beauvoir stresses that in order to achieve authentic morality people must do something to engage with the world not intellectualize the problems within it. Humans have a moral commitment to liberate the oppressed individuals because it causes limited liberation of their own freedom. Oppressed individuals may not even know that they are being oppressed and this why it is important for others to enlighten them and help them become liberated from their situation. With an oppressed individual, their own judgment that they are oppressed is what counts and this is why it’s an obligation of others who recognize the oppression to give them knowledge of their situation. Oppressed people are cut off from the future without the power of liberation to decide what is next for them in their lives. With liberation a person must be able to question values and oppressed individuals are not able to do this. Being oppressed does not gain moral character because character is not built by suffering. A person cannot say that they are a strong person because they have been accepting oppression and the suffering that comes with it. A person is strong when they take a stand for their liberation and fight for their own values as well as the liberation of others. However, power is limited within liberation, Beauvoir enforces this by stating that â€Å"to be free is not to have the power to do anything you like; it is to be able to surpass the given toward an open future; the existence of others as a freedom defines my situation and is even the condition of my own freedom. † (Beauvoir ) Power is a foundation of moral freedom and in order to engage the world a person must have power, but it is a limited power. Not only individuals of the world, but state also has an obligation to ensure that it’s people have a minimum level of well-being because this is necessary to freely act within the world. External help is needed in order to alleviate oppression and once an oppressed individual is placed within the presence of freedom they must pursue freedom for themselves and one cannot force freedom upon them or it would not be recognized as freedom at all. Works cited Beauvoir, S. D. The Works of Simone de Beauvoir. Zuubooks. com, 2010. Print. Marcel, Gabriel. A Gabriel Marcel Reader. 1st edition. St. Augustines Press, 2011. Print.

History of Cancer Theories

History of Cancer Theories Defining Cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving out-of-control growth of abnormal cell growth in a part of the body. Ancient Evidence of Cancer The worlds first recorded case of cancer was discovered in Egypt and dates back to about 2600 BC. Its called the Edwin Smith Papyrus, an ancient papyrus named after the dealer who bought it in 1862. The papyrus is a copy of the collected teachings of the great Egyptian physician Imhotep who live around 2625 BC. It describes 48 cases of injuries, fractures, wounds, dislocations and tumors. Every case is followed by a concise discussion of treatments. Case forty-five describes breast cancer as a bulging mass in the breast, for which there is no cure. In around 440 BC, the Greek historian Herodotus recorded in The Histories that Atossa, the queen of Persia, had a tumor upon her breast. She sought a self-imposed quarantine and ultimately allowed Democedes, her Greek slave, to cut off the tumor. In addition to historical descriptions, there are also evidence of cancer found in mummified specimens of malignant tissues of cancers that had somehow preserved from ancient times. In 1914, a team of archaeologists found a tumor on a two-thousand-year old Egyptian mummy. In 1990, Arthur Aufderheide, a paleopathologist, found cancers in naturally desiccated mummies in a thousand-year-old gravesite in the southern tip of Peru. The most striking finding, though, is not that cancer existed in the distant past, but that it was rare. In ancient times, people didnt live long enough to get cancer because cancer is a disease of older people, with incidence rates increasing with age for most cancers. Origin of the Word Cancer The great Greek physician Hippocrates (460-370 BC), who is considered to be the Father of medicine, used the word karkinos to describe malignant tumors because the finger-like spreading projections from such tumors reminded him of a crab. The Romans later translated the Greek term into cancer, the Latin word for crab. Claudius Galen (130-200 AD), another Greek physician, used the word oncos (Greek term for swelling) to describe tumors. It is the origin of the word oncology, the study of cancer. Old Theories about Cancer Humoral Theory (400 BC) Hippocrates believed that the body contained 4 humors (body fluids), (1) blood, (2) black bile, (3) yellow bile, and (4) phlegm. Any imbalance of these fluids will result in disease. Hippocrates had opined that cancer was best untreated, since patients live longer that way. Galenic Theory (160 AD) Claudius Galen, an influential Greek physician, took Hippocrates humoral theory to the next level by classifying all illnesses in terms of excesses of various fluids. Inflammation was attributed to an excess of blood; tubercles was the excess of phlegm; jaundice was the excess of yellow bile; Cancer was the excess of black bile.ÂÂ   Galenic theory suggested that cancer was the result of a systemic malignant state. Cutting the tumor out would not cure the disease. We should try systemic medicines to purge the black bile instead. This black bile theory of cancer was standard through the Middle Ages for over 1400 years until the birth of modern human anatomy in the 16th century. In 1533, Andreas Vesalius, who is considered the founder of modern human anatomy, arrived at the University of Paris to learn Galenic anatomy and pathology. To his disappointment, there were no map of human organs to guide him in surgeries. So he decided to create his own anatomy map, and scoured the graveyards around Paris for bones and bodies as specimens. In 1538, after becoming the professor of anatomy at the University of Padua, he published his drawings which showed anatomical charts of the blood and nervous systems.ÂÂ   He wondered whether he could put the charts for practical use to treat diseases. The Galens humoral theory of disease required the patient be bled and purged to squeeze the overgrown humors out of the body. So he tried to locate the four humors in his chart. The lymphatic system carried a pale fluid, the blood vessels were filled with blood, yellow bile was in the liver. But he could not find Galens black bile. He kept quiet about his discovery that there was no black bile, and left his drawings just as he saw things. In 1793, Matthew Baillie, an anatomist in London, wanted to map the body in its diseased abnormal state. He too was looking for black bile, but couldnt find it on charts of a normal body. He thought that black bile may not have existed in normal tissue, but tumors should have been full of it. So he started mapping the body with tumors. But he could not find the black bile anywhere not even in the tumors. Like Vesalius, he left his anatomy and cancer drawing the way he actually saw it.

Stem Cells: What How and Why? Essay -- essays research papers

Stem Cells: What, How and Why? Stem cells are infinitely valuable when considering their potential applications in the medical profession. While current legislative restrictions have halted the development of new ?stem cell lines? to any agency or company that receives any form of governmental grants, there is no question that the medical profession is standing at the brink of a new era of technological advancements in healthcare and research. Stem cells are valuable due to the fact that they are ?non-designated,? (have no specifically assigned task in the body, i.e. liver cells, brain cells, skin cells, etc.) and they also have the ability to divide indefinitely. Thus, theoretically stem cells could replace any damaged or lost specifically designated cells within the body. However, this is just a brief mention of the potential applications of stem cell research, which will be discussed at a later point in this essay. Stem cells are categorized into three genres based upon their potential developmental capability, total to limited. (NIH PRIMER http://www.nih.gov/news/stemcell/primer.htm) Totipotent stem cells are stem cells whose potential is total, thus totipotent. Totipotent stem cells are derived from embryonic tissue and fertilized ovarian eggs. This type of stem cell is of particular importance to researchers due to its ability to ?specialize into extraembryonic membranes and tissues, the embryo, and all postembryonic tissues and organs? (NIH Primer). However these type of cells are extremely difficult to come by and only occur in certain places at certain developmental times. Pluripotent stem cells are stem cells in which their potential is large but not total as in Totipotent stem cells. These cells lead to the development of many cells, but cannot derive certain types of fetal cells necessary for the development of a fetus as do Totipotent stem cells. These cells undergo further assigment into cells that are designed to derive specifically assigned cells. Pluripotent stem cells are somewhat easier to come by comparatively speaking to totipotent stem cells. The final genre of stem cells is that of multipotent stem cells. These cells are more specialized than the other two categories and thus are more restricted in their capability. Multipotent stem cells are derived from pluripotent stem cells. While pluripotent stem cells are least in their po... ...if a republican president is elected following Bush. Some might say these restrictions are necessary as technology and knowledge expand. However, by allowing the government to limit was scientist can and can?t do; we?re only doing one thing. Making the most brilliant minds our country has to offer leave. It seems as though America is one of the last overly conservative strongholds left in the modern world. If we allow our government to restrict what scientist can research in the United States, the scientist will simply move somewhere where the research isn?t illegal. I regard science as a passion. I can say with absolute certainty it is not my passion, however to many who make it their career choice, it is. I offer you this example. My passion is writing, if the government made it illegal to write about what I desired, I would do whatever necessary to allow myself to follow my passion. Moving across that big pond we call the Pacific Ocean would be a small price to pay to follow my passion and practice it freely. It should be noted that by restricting research of nearly any kind (yes I do have some morals) would simply result in the loss of America?s greatest thinkers.

Societal Needs:Diversity and Equity Essay -- essays papers

Societal Needs:Diversity and Equity The purpose of this paper is to examine diversity and equity issues regarding education. More specifically, this research paper will take an in-depth view of affirmative action and its policies. A non biased view was enacted to present the pros, cons, and hotly debated issues regarding affirmative action at the university level. Additionally, the paper will examine the validity and possible biases in alternatives to affirmative action that have recently been issued. Simply stated, affirmative action is an active commitment to enhance employment and educational opportunities for minorities and women. Affirmative action’s origins stem back to the 1960s when the government began to progressively take steps in redressing decades of racial discrimination against blacks (â€Å"affirmative action†). Women and minorities, mostly Hispanic and Native Americans, subsequently were covered in this new remedy. Affirmative action forced private as well as public institutions of higher education to alter their traditional ways regarding the recruitment and admission of students (Lowe 13). Colleges and universities developed organized methods to help attract black students. Increased representation of black students on campus now became a commitment at all schools. Admission and financial aid were altered to help eliminate existing barriers to access. As a result, numerous minorities who previously may not have been admitted to institutions of higher learning were now being accepted in increasing numbers (Fullinwider). This new commitment and responsibility of institutions, however, was not welcomed by everyone. At what cost would universities go to wh... ... â€Å"Universities Need to Take A Stand and Defend Affirmative Action.† Black Issues in Higher Education 17.4 (2000): p42 Lowe, Edward, Jr. (1999). Promise and Dilemma. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. McClafferty, K. â€Å"Challenges of the New Sociology of Urban Education.† Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000. 3-15 Pg. 9 Miller, Geralda. â€Å"Study: Racial Prejudice is Reason For Affirmative Action Resistance† Black Issues in Higher Education 17.2 (2000): p14. Plous, S. (2003). Ten Myths about Affirmative Action. In S. Plous (Ed.), Understanding Prejudice and Discrimination (pp.206-212). New York: McGraw-Hill. Symonds, William C. â€Å"College Admissions: The Real Barrier Is Class.† Business Week 3828 (2003): p66. Zwick, Rebecca. â€Å"Eliminating Standardized Tests in College Admissions.† Phi Delta Kappan (1999): 320-325.

From Cain and Abel to Serial Killers Essay -- Exploratory Essays Resea

From Cain and Abel to Serial Killers      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Mark Allen Smith, Richard Chase, Ted Bundy-the list goes on and on. These five men alone have been responsible for at least ninety deaths, and many suspect that their victims may total twice that number. They are serial killers, the most feared and hated of criminals. What deep, hidden secret makes them lust for blood? What can possibly motivate a person to kill over and over again with no guilt, no remorse, no hint of human compassion? What makes a serial killer?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Serial killings are not a new phenomenon. In 1798, for example, Micajah and Wiley Harpe traveled the backwoods of Kentucky and Tennessee in a violent, year-long killing spree that left at least twenty-and possibly as many as thirty-eight-men, women, and children dead. Their crimes were especially chilling as they seemed particularly to enjoy grabbing small children by the ankles and smashing their heads against trees (Holmes and DeBurger 28). In modern society, however, serial killings have grown to near epidemic proportions. Ann Rule, a respected author and expert on serial murders, stated in a seminar on serial murder at the University of Louisville that between 3,500 and 5,000 people become victims of serial murder each year in the United States alone (qtd. in Holmes and DeBurger 21). Many others estimate that there are close to 350 serial killers currently at large in our society (Holmes and DeBurger 22).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Fascination with murder and murderers is not new, but researchers in recent years have made great strides in determining the characteristics of criminals. Looking back, we can see how naà ¯ve early experts were in their evaluations; in 1911, for example, Italian crimin... ...words of Ted Bundy, one of the most ruthless serial killers of our time: "Most serial killers are people who kill for the pure pleasure of killing and cannot be rehabilitated. Some of the killers themselves would even say so" (qtd. in Holmes and Deburger 150). Works Cited Biondi, Ray, and Walt Hecox. The Dracula Killer. New York: Simon, 1992. Davis, Ron. The Milwaukee Murders. New York: St. Martin's, 1991. Holmes, Ronald M., and James DeBurger. Serial Murder. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1988. Lunde, Donald T. Murder and Madness. San Francisco: San Francisco Book, 1976. Markman, Ronald, and Dominick Bosco. Alone with the Devil. New York: Doubleday, 1989. Ressler, Robert K., Ann W. Burgess, and John E. Douglas. Sexual Homicide - Patterns and Motives. Lexington, MA: Heath, 1988. Taylor, Lawrence. Born to Crime. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1984.

Lucent Technologies

Case analysis on Lucent Technologies: Global Supply Chain Management By, ROOPANVI DANDU Lucent Technologies: Global Supply Chain Management Lucent technologies are a manufacturing company that was a part of American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (AT&T) until 1996. Lucent’s main product was the 5ESS switch. The switch was worlds most reliable and widely used switching system. Prior to 1996 the Asian supply chain has not been a high priority.The demand for Asian joint ventures was easily met by the manufacturing unit in United States. The high volume of production in Oklahoma City led to low production costs. Also AT&T’s large cash flow from the phone bills had insulated its manufacturing wing from the consequences of inefficient assent management and long time delivery times. Lucent’s independence made them loose the deep pockets of AT&T.At the same time many other factors like the booming Asian marketplace, significant price erosion for telecomm unications equipment, original part resourcing and manufacturing capabilities forced then to redesign the Asian supply chain. After the redesign the results were dramatic. 82 percent of parts were sourced with Asia, which led the factory to be three times as productive, inventory days of sales fell by more than half, time difference and long distance that had inhibited responsiveness were eliminated.Also due to its intimate knowledge of product cost, the factory was able to steer many bids towards configurations in which the switch had great cost advantage leading to competitive advantage needed to win the bid. They were many factors that led to revisit the Asia supply chain strategy. Due to unprecedented growth in cellular and Internet sectors, components demand outstripped supply, and huge material shortage developed. Leading edge procurement arrangements were sorely tested and in some cases broke down.The main five problematic areas were sole –sourced component lead times more than doubled, inventories increased by about 25 percent as assemblies could not be completed, the Taiwan factory had to commit to early parts delivery to ensure availability, product shipment to costumers were jeopardized and orders were at risk due to an inability to ship on time, premium prices were required in order to obtain expedited shipments of missing parts. Also the contract manufacturers were starting to get more involved in sophisticated telecommunication electronics.The switch was reaching the mature part of its life cycle. All these external and internal factors forced to rethink about the strategy. I would recommend reevaluation of supply chain to reduce the competition. To reduce material shortage I would suggest to design new technology that uses general products, forecast the demand, use contract manufacturers where their own manufacturing assets are not so profitable, order the parts beforehand so that premium prices can be avoided for missing parts.The main l esson learned form this case study would be to reevaluate your supply chain strategy every few years to be successful and ahead of the competitors. In order to effectively balance risk and opportunity, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers need to periodically rethink their strategies. . To improve the Supply Chain network Enhanced Collaboration should be implemented. It would dramatically minimize the delays and also reduces the costs. Work with suppliers to create contingency plans. Also to make supply chain more flexible increase product component standardization.

National Bank of Pakistan

PRINCIPLE OF MANAGEMENT SEMESTER FALL ‘10 FINAL REPORT RESEARCH LOCATION: NATIONAL BANK OF PAKISTAN – HEADOFFICE TOPIC: MANAGEMENT PREPARED BY: Nash Jinia – 4456 Sarosh Ejaz – 5050 Irfan Ali – 5129 Jehanzaib – 4591 SUBMITTED TO: MAM AMBER RAZA COURSE ID: 10108 DATED: 14th NOVEMBER,2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS S. NO| PARTICULARS| PAGE NO. | 1| Acknowledgments| 2| 2| An Introduction – NBP| 3| 3| Vision and Mission| 4| 4| Management and Strategic Values| 5| 5| NBP Organizational Structure & Leadership| 7| 6| SWOT Analysis| 10| 7| Questions and Answers| 12| 8| Our Findings| 17| 9| Why work at NBP? | 24| 0| Conclusion| 25| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We start with the name of Allah, the most beneficent, the most merciful. We thank Him for giving us the strength and resources to complete this task as He gives all. We would like to thank Mr. Jamil Akhtar (AVP Logistics Wing) who kindly referred us to different departments. We would also like to thank all the s taff members of the National Bank of Pakistan (Head office), who gave us some of their valuable time to answer all the questions we had regarding their job and working of the HR department and also for providing us with such accurate knowledge of their system especially Mr.Mohib-ur-Rehman (Manager Employee Communication). We would also like to thank our teacher and guide, Mam Amber Raza for giving us the research topics as our final term report, which gave us the opportunity to move forward and explore the real world scenarios and the working of the system in the public sector which benefitted us all the more; us being BBA students, and, with whose guidance we were able to put together all the information necessary in forming this report.AN INTRODUCTION – NBP National Bank of Pakistan is the largest commercial bank operating in Pakistan. Its balance sheet size surpasses that of any of the other banks functioning locally. It has redefined its role and has moved from a public s ector organization into a modern commercial bank. The Bank's services are available to individuals, corporate entities and government.While it continues to act as trustee of public funds and as the agent to the State Bank of Pakistan (in places where SBP does not have a presence) it has diversified its business portfolio and is today a major lead player in the debt equity market, corporate investment banking, retail and consumer banking, agricultural financing, treasury services and is showing growing interest in promoting and developing the country's small and medium enterprises and at the same time fulfilling its social responsibilities, as corporate citizen. In today's competitive business environment, NBP needed to redefine its role and shed the public sector bank image, for a modern commercial bank. It is now listed in the Karachi Stock Exchange. National Bank of Pakistan is today a progressive, efficient, and customer focused institution. It has developed a wide range of consu mer products, to enhance business and cater to the different segments of society. Some schemes have been specifically designed for the low to middle income segments of the population.These include NBP Karobar, NBP Advance Salary, NBP Saiban, NBP Kisan Dost, NBP Cash n Gold. A number of initiatives have been taken, in terms of institutional restructuring, changes in the field structure, in policies and procedures, in internal control systems with special emphasis on corporate governance, adoption of Capital Adequacy Standards under Basel II framework, in the up gradation of the IT infrastructure and developing the human resources.National Bank of Pakistan has built an extensive branch network with 1250 branches in Pakistan and operates in major business centre abroad. National Bank has earned recognition and numerous awards internationally. It has been the recipient of The Bank of the Year 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005 Award by The Banker Magazine, the Best Foreign Exchange Bank – – Pakistan for 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, Global Finance, Best Emerging Market Bank from Pakistan for the year 2005, Global Finance, Kissan Time Awards – 2005 for NBP's services in the agriculture field.It is listed amongst the Region's largest banks and also amongst the largest banks in South Asia 2005, The Asian Banker. It has also been presented a Recognition Award –– 2004 for having a Gender Sensitive Management by WEBCOP AASHA besides other awards. Year 2007 has yet been another outstanding year with the bank recording the highest profit in its history. NBP’s wide range of product offerings, large branch network and committed workforce are some of our fundamental strengths that enabled NBP to achieve exceptional results in a very competitive market. VISION AND MISSIONTo be recognized as a leader and a brand synonymous with trust, highest standards of service quality, international best practices and social responsibility. NBP will aspire to th e values that make NBP truly the Nation’s Bank by: †¢ Institutionalizing a merit and performance culture †¢ Creating a distinctive brand identity by providing the highest standards of services †¢ Adopting the best international management practices †¢ Maximizing stakeholders value †¢ Discharging our responsibility as a good corporate citizen of Pakistan and in countries where we operate. MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGIC VALUES As told by Dr. Mirza Abrar Baig, Senior Executive Vice President ; Group Chief, HR ; Administration) The management team as a whole, and each member of it, has clearly defined responsibilities and the necessary authority to manage the insurer in a manner consistent with the strategic direction approved by the supervisory board. All members of the management team are required to perform their duties with due care and diligence, and for the purpose of maintaining the insurer’s capacity to meet its obligations to all counterparties and constituencies at all times.Members are free of material conflicts of interest that could unduly influence their judgment. Where management is constituted as a management board, no non-executives should be part of the management board. The NBP team found that the management teams of the insurance companies are professional, with clearly defined responsibilities and adequate authorities to fulfill their duties. Boards of directors (i. e. the management boards) consisted only of executives. Management have sufficient skills and experience in relation to insurance, finance and other disciplines relevant to the management of an insurer.All members of the management team have access to sufficient resources and receive sufficient training to assist them in the performance of their roles. The management of the major NBP bank appears to be highly professional and demonstrates sufficient skills to fulfill their duties. The NBP team did not review the management of the small locally-owned banks that are not members of the banking association. NBP is continuously transforming its image and customer perception as a modern bank through branch renovation and relocation to more convenient and accessible sites.The team at Operations Group commits itself to change the face of the Bank by way of improving its physical outlook, effective implementation of its systems ; controls and the quality of service provided to its customers. Improving operational efficiency is getting more focus given the challenges being faced by the industry. With opening of customer facilitation centers for the collection of utility bills and making payments to pensioners, the bank expects to reduce its counter traffic at branches thereby focusing more on its customer’s business needs.Customer care is a key area of the bank and various training programs have been conducted for employees to improve customer handling and interaction. Special Assets Management Group is primarily responsible for monitoring and settlement of non performing loans (NPLs) portfolio. With NPL coverage of more than 76% we believe that non performing loans can contribute substantially in the bank’s profitability through recoveries and settlements. Rising non-performing loans has been an industry wide phenomenon and due to adverse economic factors, NPLs increased by 26% or Rs. 4. 5 billion. We believe that most of the NPLs are the result of business cycle / circumstantial defaults and with the economy picking up and reduction in interest rates; the quantum of non-performing loans is expected to decline. We are keeping our staunch focus on recovery and reduction in non performing loans is the area of greatest attention. The bank truly values its staff and the vital role they play in successful organizations. The bank gives special attention to attracting, developing and retaining good quality human resource.Our new hiring of top class MBAs as Management Trainees Officers (MTOs) and search for talent within the Bank have helped in preparing second and third tier leadership lines. ‘Female Empowerment’ was launched to empower female employees and impact communities by championing the cause of women’s empowerment in the society. Today, NBP is determined in pursuing the policy of placing females on responsible and challenging position as Branch Managers, Branch Operations Managers and Customer Facilitation Officers. A number of female MTOs have been selected, trained and posted as branch managers.Currently, 60 branches are being headed by females. HR initiatives and strategy is amid at competitive employee compensation, training need assessment and succession planning. NBP is striving to become an employer of choice through improved HR policies and competitive remuneration. NBP ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE Organization Structure of the National Bank of Pakistan Main Offices Main Offices of the National Bank of Pakistan are of three types : * Head Office * Reg ional Offices * Branch Office Head Office Head office of the National Bank of Pakistan is located in Karachi.Head office controls and monitors all the activities of the bank. The President of the National Bank of Pakistan seats the head office. A secretariat is established to assist the president in the head office. The head office is divided into twelve Departments. A Group Chief controls a Group. President All Groups/Departments are headed by Group/Department Chiefs. President is the head of all Group Chiefs. All strategic matters are discussed and approved by the president and Group Chiefs. In Head Office following are the Group/Department Chiefs: * Operations Group Chief * Corporate ; Invest.Group Chief * Special Assets ; Remedial Mgt. Group Chief * Strategic Planning ; Economic Research Group Chief * Treasury Mgt Group Chief * Risk Mgt. Group Chief * Commercial ; Retail Banking Group Chief * Audit ; Inspection Group Chief * I. T. Planning Dept. ; Implementation Group Chief * HR M Dept. Chief * Org. Development ; Training Dept Chief * Over-seas Operations Chief NBP HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT â€Å"To provide more talented human resource in relation to competition in all NBP functional areas, creating a motivating environment and maintain industrial harmony†.As evidenced from the Mission Statement, key element of strengthening the HR base of the bank includes the following: * Provision of talented human resource * Employee motivation * Industrial harmony Additionally, all the HR initiative implemented at NBP is in line with the above objectives. VALUES They believe that; * People make the organization * People collectively yield results * People have ambitions and aspirations to be distinguished and rewarded * People form the human capital to be developed and invested in.LEADING POLICIES OF NBP Basically lending policies are governed by SBP lending policies; however, NBP has some discounter powers in respect of lending policies. The advances made by th e NBP have increased so much and are involved in creating a great amount of return for the bank. Deposits and the Advances are the two important functions of any bank. NBP takes deposits from the customers and lend them to the others for earning a profit. The difference between the deposit rate and the lending rate will be the benefit of the bank.Civil line branch of NBP is playing the most important role in this category because it has a separate department to deal with the peoples those who want to have money. Civil line branch is dealing with the corporate sector as well. Working Capital and Short Term Loans: NBP specializes in providing Project Finance – Export Refinance to exporters – Pre-shipment and Post-shipment financing to exporters – Running finance – Cash Finance – Small Finance – Discounting ; Bills Purchased – Export Bills Purchased / Pre-shipment / Post Shipment Agricultural Production Loans Medium term loans and Capita l Expenditure Financing:NBP provides financing for its clients’ capital expenditure and other long-term investment needs. By sharing the risk associated with such long-term investments, NBP expedites clients’ attempt to upgrade and expand their operation thereby making possible the fulfillment of our clients’ vision. This type of long term financing proves the bank’s belief in its client's capabilities, and its commitment to the country. Loan Structuring and Syndication: National Bank’s leadership in loan syndicating stems from ability to forge strong relationships not only with borrowers but also with bank investors.Because we understand our syndicate partners’ asset criteria, we help borrowers meet substantial financing needs by enabling them to reach the banks most interested in lending to their particular industry, geographic location and structure through syndicated debt offerings. Our syndication capabilities are complemented by our ow n capital strength and by industry teams, who bring specialized knowledge to the structure of a transaction. Cash Management Services:With National Bank’s Cash Management Services (in process of being set up), the customer’s sales collection will be channeled through vast network of NBP branched spread across the country. This will enable the customer to manage their company’s total financial position right from your desktop computer. They will also be able to take advantage of our outstanding range of payment, ejection, liquidity and investment services. In fact, with NBP, you’ll be provided everything, which takes to manage your cash flow more accurately. Generally Leading Policies Include: * Clean Credit Report. * Compliance with maximum exposure by the bank. Compliance with maximum exposure that can be allowed to a single party. * Funded = 4 times of equity of the firm. * Non-Funded = 10 times of equity of the firm. SWOT ANALYSIS A SWOT analysis is an effective tool, which can be used to examine the issue that will directly affect the success of alternative delivery mechanism. The emerging banking environment is becoming more competitive with the advancement of new technology. The banks are striving to provide their customers with prominent and efficient services at lower cost in order to get the competitive advantage upon other banks.During the internship program a SWOT analysis was also conducted which is as follow: Strengths * Deposit security that is guaranteed by Government of Pakistan. * Largest contribution toward Government & semi-Government requirements. * Agent to the SBP for handling Treasury/ Currency Chest Functions. * Collaboration with Federal/ Provincial Government organizations for receipts of taxes & other revenues. * Largest network of domestic & overseas branches. * More secured jobs of employees as compared to other commercial banks (Job Security). Sale & Purchase of prize bonds, NIT units, National Defense Saving Certificates (NDSCs) and other government securities. * Heavy project financing, Agriculture, Industrial as well as small loans. * Key role in country’s economic development. * Easy and shortened documented procedure. * Guidance and help of experienced people. Weaknesses * Under utilization of the new technology equipment & procedures of banking. * More formal organizational setup. * Bureaucratic style prevails in the National Bank of Pakistan. Lack of highly skilled, trained and professional personnel. * Fixed deposit rates not compatible with the competitors. * Foreign currency accounts governing rules more restricted & not customer oriented. * Bank staff not highly cooperative among themselves as well as with the customers. * Overall employees’ poor attitude towards work. Opportunities * The ability to obtain a larger customer base. * Global expansion. This is an enormous market, which will be a great opportunity in the future. * The ability to take advantage of the growing popularity of internet banking. Providing Information Technology loans to the students and educational institutions in order to foster the Computer and Management studies. * Providing the personalized services to the customers. * Offering high deposit rates and cutting down the high lending rates. * Financing the educational institutions and general public welfare projects in order to create a good image in general public. Threats * Continual changing technology. * Uncertainty of the banking industry. * Competition from â€Å"lower price† operations. * Possible failure of product due to non-acceptance of customer. General competitiveness of the banking industry. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS In addition to all the theoretical evidences we found which includes many conversations with people involved at NBP as listed in our findings, we luckily got the opportunity to meet the two senior executives in the HR department who gave accurate answers to our several questions. Th e HR function that we were most interested to find about was â€Å"RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION† but we also met with the personnel division head and found out about how HR at NBP handles grievances and compensates its employees.Being students of business administration and on our way to graduation getting into the most eligible organizations remains top priority and of course†¦National Bank of Pakistan remains top of the list. Obviously getting the group chief of HR, Dr. Mirza Abrar Baig, to talk to us still remains a big deal so we remained short of meeting him; instead we got an interview with Mohib-ur-Rehman Khan who is the manager-employee communication of Human resource management and administration group and, we might add, sits right ext to the Group chief who also told us as mentioned earlier what the group chief had to say regarding our research. Here are mentioned some of the questions we asked and his answers. Q: Sir, please tell us what type of hiring takes plac e at NBP? A: Certainly. NBP hires in two different ways. One is Contractual hiring and the other is hiring of the main management trainees. Contractual hiring is when we employ someone for three years and then when the contract is about to end we reconsider and sign a new contract. Main management trainees comprise 50% of the attraction for our pool of candidates.These are the employees to receive proper management training for higher posts. Q: Your external and internal sources for recruiting? A: Currently we don’t consider rehiring but we do focus on employee referrals and if the person who is retiring is valuable to us and no equal has been found out yet to take that place then we often stop the retiree†¦other than this, as I said earlier, reemployment on contract does take place of that person is hired on contract initially. If and when internal candidates are recruited they are applied to the position of MTOs for future top posts.External sources include media adver tising but not through internet. We advertise in the â€Å"National† and â€Å"Daily† newspaper once or twice. But we do college recruiting and have been done so quite successfully in the past. Q: So what is the actual recruitment and selection process? A: It is very simple but often tedious and costly. We publish our criteria in the newspaper. Through various sources of which are mentioned above, applicants fill out application forms and submit it to us. Once the applications are accepted there are written tests which are held by IBP (Institute of Bankers Pakistan).These written tests are both a mix of personality, aptitude and skill tests based on the person’s analytical and communication skills. These are based on the GMAT/GRE format. After the applicants are selected through these tests they are passed through group discussions and panel interviews. These interviews are structured and judged on equal basis. For both types of hiring, first interview consists of a panel of 3 IBP and 1 NBP member and then for the second interview a panel of 2 IBP and 2 NBP members sits. Q: What is NBP’s educational criterion for hiring?A: NBP requires an MBA degree (Masters in Business Administration) with a minimum 3. 0 CGPA. Q: What do you look for when recruiting personnel? A: We like to hire applicants who are team players with excellent interpersonal skills, have knowledge and use of information technology, have strong analytical and problem solving skills and have excellent written and verbal communication skills in English. So when they tell you in graduation school to emphasize on English, they are not wrong. Q: What happens after selection? A: After selection on-the-job training starts.These include simulations and video simulated training. They have 27 weeks training with IBP, then 27 weeks training with NBP staff colleagues, then 54 weeks training on job and then they are on their own aboard. All the while during training they are paid t heir salary. After this they are designated to posts in small cities and sent there for a period of three years and then if a proper appraisal comes in welcomed to work at the head-office. Once they get out of training groups of executives and officers are decided according to their skills and achievement of objectives.Thus NBP follows competency based job analysis. Q: What about EEO laws? A: We follow all rules. Equal employment opportunity is not violated by NBP. We have set the hiring quota for the disabled up to 2%. Recently we hired a blind lady in the telecommunication department. We do hire blind, deaf or applicants who are ill due to polio. Q: What can you tell us about negligent hiring? What does the bank do if it comes across a person who has had, let’s say, a bad record? A: As I said, NBP follows all the rules.As the recruitment and selection is both costly and time consuming we don’t want negligent hiring on our hands. Thus we make sure proper guidelines ar e followed. All the background checks regarding certificates and other educational documents and reference calls are handled by the IBP. Once the salary pay check comes in, first rounds are made and police report is requested from the police department while on the other hand the person for whom verification is being performed is notified of it all. After the police verification report comes in then only the salary is paid.If there is someone who is identified with a criminal background or false referrals he is told so and asked to withdraw. His information is kept secret (need for privacy). Targeted firing has not been started yet or else the employees go to court. Q: How is appraisal linked with recruitment? A: When appraisal comes in, promotions happen. Seats are vacated and we get the number to employ. This was all we discussed here from Mr. Mohib. While wandering about and reading the HR mission statement and vision we tried to look on into other departments but with little suc cess.At around late after lunch we got some little time blessed upon us and ultimately met the AVP/Head of Personnel Administration, Mr. S. Hasan Akber Zaidi, of the Personnel and Industrial Relations Division. We grabbed the opportunity to ask some questions about how the HR at NBP handles the various grievances that come in. Q: Sir, please tell us what actually does the personnel department do? A: We basically look into promotions, leave and absences, whether any mishap occurs and also keep record that all due liabilities of the employees are cleared. Q: Promotions would mean that you also look into appraisal reports (ACRs)?A: We basically have a policy department that makes all the policies for promoting and appraisals and also a separate department who handles appraisals but, yes, we do look into appraisals to know whose being promoted to what extent and how much an increase in salary takes place and how the others would be affected by it. In 1984, when I got hired there was no such thing as a union but now there is and so we keep check as to whether no biasness occurs. Q: Tell us something about the Industrial Relation Department? A: They are the people concerned with the laws of the union.They make sure that no mishap occurs and in the case of employees going to court they keep check that all lawful procedures are followed in. Q: what about the compensation procedures? A: compensations are handled by the compensation committee. There is no concept of overtime here. We tend to provide a whole lot of facilities according to the posts the employees have and that can include medical, logistics other membership facilities. We also provide loans on land and property as well as other technological things but keep a proper balance of these liabilities.Q: What happens if an employee fails for some reason in paying his liabilities or disappears? A: All employees have accounts. In situations like these, or when a fraud occurs, we seize and freeze the accounts of th ose employees. The matter comes into our hand then and until and unless the reasons will be cleared we don’t let any kind of transaction occur. Q: What happens when you catch some one doing a fraud or someone disappears? What if they do not notify you of the absences? A: There is no concept of rehiring. We decide at the time we catch the fraud what to do with the person and he is notified of our intentions.Most of the time frauds are not tolerated because NBP has a lot on its hands to protect itself from. But there are exceptional cases where we have had some dilemmas and looking into the matter deep has often resulted in a better solution. For example there was a case at Gujranwala where decision making was not easy. An employee of ours didn’t notify us that he was going to take leave, didn’t approve it and stopped coming to work. He was arrested by the police and the bank faced the problem as to let him back or not. The unauthorized absence and an FIR was a da ngerous match. But the personnel department looked into it.Since the police arrest was made on the basis of a family quarrel and had nothing to do with any criminal offence, the bank allowed him back on the job. Such decisions require our foresight and logical reasoning. Again sometimes, retaining an employee is difficult and his grievances have to be handled in a different way and at other times a golden handshake has to be offered in order to let other people take someone else’s place. Q: What about promotions? A: There is a continuous planning going on. Aren’t we all looking for the same things? A raise in salary†¦a better position. It’s a mad race that we are running.Constantly we keep an eye on whose going to replace whom and with how much. Sometimes it’s just not the work that lets you through. It’s the connections as well but then these things happen. The important part is that you have to keep an eye open and know everyone. If your col leagues like you†¦then you are the head of the list. Q: How efficiently does HR keep all these records? A: We have been upgrading and are still in the process of doing so. Everything will become computerized. In all total three hubs will be performed. Q: Are any HR events held? A: Yes a lot of them actually†¦We have conferences and female empowerment workshops.Also many dialogue sessions and quiz programs. With many thanks to the two executives who gave us much to think about we left their departments and headed towards the refreshments. OUR FINDINGS The bank has taken a number of HR initiatives to develop its workforce. Today banks have to survive in a highly competitive environment, where the demand for banking services is highly diversified and growing and changing rapidly. To meet the competitive challenges, NBP felt that it had to enhance the knowledge and skill level of its employees so as to gain a sustainable edge over other banks.Importance is being placed on upgr ading the quality of human resource for higher and better performance and to meet the demand of growing competition. Not only are the employees being provided with the job related training to develop a talented human resource base at the bank, but qualified management trainees have been inducted, professionals have been hired to fill the skill gap, a talent pool has been created by identifying talented employees from within the bank throughout the country and placing them in important positions in all functional areas of the bank.All this was done with one purpose – to develop a talented human resource base at the bank. In addition, the bank has gone a step further and has made concerted efforts to reduce the gender gap. The last four to five years, a change has been witnessed in the employment pattern, where more women have been employed at more responsible managerial positions, like those of female branch managers and female operation managers. While recruiting and selectin g Management Trainee Officers, the bank management ensures that young and qualified females are offered equal employment opportunity. * TALENT MANAGEMENTThe highest emphasis was laid on talent management as it is now globally recognized that talent is the critical driver of corporate performance and that an organization’s ability to attract, develop, motivate and retain talent results in a major competitive advantage. Organizations that do better job for attracting, developing, motivating and retaining their talent boost their performance dramatically. * MANAGEMENT TRAINEE SCHEME Recruitment in the permanent cadre of the bank was kept in abeyance since 1995 and there was induction in the bank for nearly a decade in this category.To fill the skill gap the bank management obtained special permission from GOP for restricted recruitment in the permanent cadre on an annual basis till 2010. About 700 management trainees have been inducted till end 2007 from the start in year 2003. After a vigorous scholastic and on job training the management trainee officers were placed at responsible in high value branches all over the country. Their contributions in furtherance of culture change, infusion of contemporary work practices and overall growth in bank’s performance is noteworthy.The Management Trainee Officers have been placed in the fields of General Banking, HR, Compliance, Risk Management, Treasury, IT and Audit. The Management Trainee Scheme of the bank has thus, proved highly successful and is being emulated by other financial institutions in the country. * TALENT POOL SCHEME There was realization by the bank’s management that there are many existing employees within the bank who had the necessary qualification, experience, skill and talent but due to one reason or the other; their career growth had become stunted.Such employees were dispersed throughout the country and were required to be identified for proper placement. In line with the glob al corporate strategy of leading Fortune 500 Companies that the best people should be placed in responsible and key positions, the implementation of the NBP Talent Pool Scheme has proved to be pioneering efforts in this direction in the Pakistan banking industry. Consequently, the first place over 200 employees were identified on merit through written test and interview and interview for selection in the NBP Talent Pool Scheme and posted in positions of higher responsibility.The implementation of the second phrase is in process and it is envisaged that other batch of about 300 existing bank employees will be available under the scheme for placement in high value branches of the bank. * FEMALE BRANCH MANAGERS The demographics of Pakistan are slightly skewed reflecting a higher female population which to a great extent is underutilized and their contribution to the economic sectors of the country in thus less than optimum level.Currently there is very high scope of including this fema le population in economic activities as many of them are academically qualified to take up challenging job opportunities. In line with the Government’s policy and vision of the bank’s President, NBP implemented a plan to empower the existing female employees of the bank and post them as managers in 10% of the bank’s branches. Around 30 female branch managers were selected from the existing female workforce of the bank while 30 others were recruited for external source.These 60 female managers have been posted at branches after intensive training and initial performance results indicate that they have shown remarkable performance. NBP employees excelling in banking examination of the Institution of Bankers, Pakistan: About four years ago the performance of NBP employees in banking examinations was quite dismal and it was the lowest in the banking sector. On account of the creation if an enabling environment with the management’s encouragement and support f or such academic pursuits besides various incentives, NBP employees today obtain the No. position in the country when compared to any other financial institution in terms of maximum number of NBP employees qualifying in such examination. * AGRICULTURE FIELD OFFICERS The agricultural sector of Pakistan contributes the highest to the GDP of the country. National bank of Pakistan enjoys the greatest strength in term of branch network which is concentrated in the rural areas of the country. The bank was therefore adequately poised to provide a full range of specialized financial services at the doorstep of the farmer.In line with the government policy to boost the agricultural sector with its large untapped potential for growth, NBP the initiative of the of developing adequate HR base in the agriculture dominated regions of the country consequently, 100 agriculture officers were appointed having necessary agriculture based qualifications to guide, facilitate and provide financial access to the farmer for enhancing their agricultural produce. * CASH OFFICERS Counter service to the costumers has been given top priority by the bank in order to improve the promptness in delivery of basic banking service.To improve customer services, 300 cash officers have been posted through internal sources by promoting staff of clerical cadre. This also provided for employee empowerment and motivation; in the past; promotions in clerical cadre took over 10 years. Upon encouraging results of such initiative, we have, once again internally advertised the position to induct another batch of cash officers which is going to be finalized shortly. * HIRING OF PROFESSIONALS Counter service to the costumers has been given top priority by the bank in order to improve the promptness in delivery of basic banking service.To improve customer services, 300 cash officers have been posted through internal sources by promoting staff of clerical cadre. This also provided for employee empowerment and m otivation; in the past; promotions in clerical cadre took over 10 years. Upon encouraging results of such initiative, they have, once again internally advertised the position to induct another batch of cash officers which is going to be finalized shortly. * EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION Human motives are based on conscious and subconscious need filled in individualistic, hierarchical order.Generally, motivation includes the entire class of drives, desire, needs and wishes, all of which are different for different individuals and further differ in their importance at various times for the same individual. Managing employee motivation is always an extremely complex task. To continuously enhance the level of performance of the employees and attain the optimum level for ensuring the growth of the organization, it is the primary responsibility of all HR practitioners to continuously maintain employee satisfaction and high motivation levels.NBP utilized all HRM tools for enhancing employees’ motivation thereby, contributing to the bank’s record growth. Promotion and Career Progression: During the last five years, 98% of the bank have been promoted at least once while, 45% of this total strength have received two promotions. This is a major step towards ensuring employee motivation and high morale. Promotions of employee who perform well are made strictly on merit basis and in the most transparent manner. Such promotions have been made a regular feature so that high performing employees are rewarded and their efforts in the growth of the bank are recognized.Employee Compensation: Pay Packages 2004, 2006 and 2008 were negotiated and implemented to the complete satisfaction of the employees and n the best interest of the bank. This was a major accomplishment in view of the highly charged intra-union and inter-union rivalries compounded by the transaction of HR responsibilities. During last five years increase in pay was a 100% for almost all NBP employees. The ensu re compensation levels of bank employees in relation to the market, salary surveys have been conducted and salary adjustments are being made wherever required. THE BANK’S INTERNAL CUSTOMER In order to provide maximum satisfaction to internal customers, which is vital for motivation and innovation each employee of HR has been given specific responsibility with the agreed upon standard time for each activity. The performance of the individual in then continuously monitored for the actual time taken for each activity against the set standard, to measure the HR performance. This quantification and measurement of each HR activity has resulted in substantial improvement in internal efficiency thereby, contributing to employee satisfaction and motivation. ACHIEVEMENT AND SPOT AWARDS A merit based culture has been established in the bank through implementation of achievement and spot awards for individual employees showing exemplary performance during the year or in an assigned task. The achievement award policy of the bank is a transparent system for rewarding high performing employees through achievement awards to 10% of the total employee strength every year. The policy of spot award is basically for recognizing individual employees their one-off excellent performance.Performance appraisal system has been revised to replace the traditional subjective ACR to provide more objectively in evaluation and recognizing merit. This system has been implemented with effect from January 2007 for all executives and contractual employees. Further; PAS will also be applicable to over 9000 regular officers w. e. f. 01. 01. 2009. Based on the evaluation of individual employees as per their performance appraisal, a system of pay for performance is being implemented to properly compensate relatively high performing employees thereby, strengthening the merit based culture. * EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATIONCommunication channels within an organization play a very important role in involv ing the employees’ participation in the implementation of policies. Through involvement in the implementation process, employees feel motivated to perform and establish their contribution in the overall growth of the organization. The 1st phase of ECP has been completed by 20 regions and about 8000 employees are already covered under the program. With a view to establish top-down and bottom-up communication, dialogue sessions with field functionaries of high value branches with the President have been held and constructive suggestion incorporated.Further to make the employee communication more effective regular bi-monthly publication of NBP Newsline and monthly publication of the Management Brief have also been introduced. * LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT After the reorganization of the bank’s field structure and decentralization of power, Regional Management Teams (RMT) were formed at all 29 Regional Offices. These leadership positions were filled through a systematic selecti on of RMT Member on merit, in the most transparent manner and after qualifying through a rigorous selection process involving written tests, group discussions and interviews.The empowerment of Regional Management Teams and managers of branches through enhanced discretionary powers for prompts decision making and assumption of higher responsibilities has motivated them to ensure high performance levels. Further, the bank intends to launch a â€Å"NBP Management & Leadership Development Scheme† for internal skilled and qualified employees of the bank for placement in middle and higher management level position in the future. * INDUSTRIAL HARMONYThe implementation of all HR policies depends to a great extent, on continuously maintaining industrial harmony within the organization. This has to be ensured through developing a mutual respect between the management and employee representatives. Mutual respect between the management and the CBAs as well as Officers representatives at NBP has been strengthened through trust building measure. These trust building measures included maintaining a continuous dialogue process with CBAs and Officers representatives.Industrial Relations Conferences were held to build better understanding of IROs and management policies, to ensure a ongoing harmonious environment. Industrial Relations Conferences are planned at Karachi & Islamabad for 2008. Additionally, the Employees Communication Program involving meeting at regional offices for staff are planned to create better awareness of management policies and the bank’s tradition of employee care. WHY WORK AT NBP? * NBP maintains its position as Pakistan’s Premier Bank with a huge network abroad as well. The Bank currently has an employee has of over 15,000 employees worldwide. The various departments include: Consumer Banking – Corporate Finance – Investment Banking – Agricultural Banking – Transactional Banking – Operations â₠¬â€œ Software Development and Automation – Financial Control – Treasury – Internal Audit – Risk Management & Credit – Economic & Business research – Training & Development – Strategic Planning – Human Resources * NBP has started several new programs to train its employees further to be prepared for the dynamic aspect of their job and to meet the challenges ahead. Besides a competitive financial package, NBP offers excellent working conditions, job satisfaction, superior leadership, and a conducive environment for growth. CONCLUSION It seemed impressive with the new HR department at NBP – a major public sector bank, decked out in wood and glass, with people in and out trying to devise plans of how to boost up the morale of each and every working person there and how to recruit the best ones out of a whole lot. The steps taken for the strengthening of the HR base in NBP have been instrumental in achieving record performanc e. This has been empirically proved through KPIs received from the field.Nevertheless, to remain competitive they cannot be complacent and should adequately prepare their human resource for meeting the challenge of competition in the future. A goal setting meeting was held in December 3 and 4, 2007 and a complete road map has been prepared for the year 2008. The goals and objective for the year 2008 were firmed up with a view to identifying the right kind of people socializing them in the right direction, training them; assigning tasks and roles that bring out their best, motivating them to put extra effort and creating conditions whereby the employees have a sense of fulfillment.This highly motivated effort will serve to retain NBP’s positions as the â€Å"Employer of Choice†. In recent times ,under the leadership of president Syed Ali Raza ,the banking has become conscious in promoting empowerment of women within the organization which not only requires a significant change in attitude but also immense modification in working culture. In view of this realization, national bank has accepted the abilities of women as component workers, and has started making the most of these potentials by assigning them managerial responsibilities.Currently, 63 branches are being headed by the females. The management under its female empowerment programme is committed to have 10 percent of NBP branches to be headed by the females. The management also considered the request for transfer of married and unmarried female employees to their desired place of posting which is close to their parents and spouse. The bank management envisaged that a strong human resource injection is essential for the success on a sustained basis .The management trainee's scheme was introduced management for attracting talent from all over the country having professional qualification particularly in the field of business management and commerce having proficiency in computer operation. T he first batch of management trainees joined NBP in July 2003 to translate the idea. Up till now a total of eight batches have been inducted and of them have been posted to region and groups. In view of all these improvements that have been done we still remain controversial on the subject of getting employment in NBP.It is true that all gender biasness has been removed and extensive training has been organized keeping in view that talent needs to be recognized and appreciated. We also remain highly appreciative of the fact that since the development of the HR department and its focus on the issues of recruitment, selection, gender biasness, appraisals, compensation, EEO compliance, grievances and training, the fact that we would not have been able to gain so much cooperation of the people we interviewed at the bank without our own personal source speaks for itself for the kind of resources that still work in the public sectors.HR needs to finish it or maybe it is on its way. We may gather from the data we received that many positive changes have come and are yet to come but are not negligent of the fact how and where what kind of biasness and sincerity is at work. While sitting in any organization you learn to come out of the theoretical meaning of appraisals and learn in real terms. We all saw the positive changes and the zealous way in which the department was at work in NBP and know that strategically it’s trying to achieve the better part of the system, competing against the system in its own way.For the bank itself, the need of HR is being fulfilled which keeps its employees more focused and well looked after. Here are some tips for being better employees than others that during our case study we have gathered: Educate yourself Many people promoted to new, senior position think that they can learn on the job, without any need for education in the new tasks. Yet, if you wanted to indulge in a new hobby, for example if you want to learn how to play a guitar, you would expect to take classes.The same principle applies to taking up a new position or moving to new company. Your natural ability needs reinforcement by learning both general and specifics ways, how to do the work. Many companies fail to insist on this reinforcement. If the employer will not provide the learning, take steps to get it yourself. Master computers However you obtain access to computing power, it is an indispensable extension of your own brain and capabilities. You must quickly master a word processing programme, email and a spreadsheet.Productivity aids like desk diaries and personal databases. Computer in many organizations now provide access to company files, colleges, message, customer, suppliers, collaborative, working and the internet. Strive for excellence The pursuit of the highest possible standards automatically points you towards achieving excellence. It you have achieve perfection in any activity, you must be the best, which is the proper objec tive in any context. In practice, aiming to improve skills means performing significantly better than your present standards, which are always imperfect.Remember that refusal to tolerate imperfection is a powerful force for success. Raise your standards However good you are at something, you can always improve. Similarly, however high the standards you have set for yourself and others, they can always higher. Apply to the total quality principle of continuous improvement to everything that you do. In a new position you may feel daunted by new demands and doubt your ability to tackle the tasks successfully. However, after the few weeks in the new role you will be performing well without difficulty.People tend to underestimate their power, which achieves the opposite of maximizing potential. It is better to overshoot and miss than never to try for the best of which you are capable. Learn a language Mastering other language makes a difference in negotiations and business relationships. It is also a valuable exercise for the mind. Cassettes and videos are effective learning tools but the best learning is interactive. You can sign up for the classes or use interactive media. Then take every chance to improve your skill.It will impress everybody, including your foreign business contacts. Share your knowledge Make sure that any courses you plan to attend are relevant to your work. Then do all you can to apply what you have learnt. Do not be deterred by less enlightened colleagues who may pour scorn on what you have been taught. You can only discover whether those lessons have real value by putting them into practice in your day-to-day work. Pass on your new knowledge to colleagues, and make them your allies. Be the bestJust like runners, managers and organizations needs opponents, or at least pace-setters, to produce their best performance. The process known as benchmarking measure comparable performance to set targets that they seek to exceed. The defect in this app roach is that the benchmarks may themselves be too low. You want to be the best at what you do. That means looking at the performance of the others to see not just what they do well. Being the best means setting new ways, this drive for reform can be very demanding, but also highly rewarding.