Understand how health and safety legislation is implemented in the health and social care workplace free essay sample

Assignment Front Sheet Qualification Unit Number and Title Pearson BTEC Level 4 HND Diploma In Health and Social Care Student Name Unit 3: Health and Safety in the Health and Social Care Workplace Assessor name: Christine Pratt Date of Issue Completion date 27/01/2014 18/04/2014 Student No. Submitted on Assignment title Learning Outcome Learning outcome Assessment criteria LO1 Understand 1. 1 how health and safety legislation is implemented in the health and social care workplace 1. 2 1. 3 In this assessment you will Task have the opportunity to No. present evidence that shows you are able to review systems, policies and 1Â  procedures for communicating information on health and safety in the health and social care workplace in accordance with legislative requirements Evidence (Page no) assess the responsibilities in 1 a specific health and social care workplace for the management of health and safety in relation to organisational structures analyse health and safety 1 priorities ap propriate for a specific health and social care workplace. We will write a custom essay sample on Understand how health and safety legislation is implemented in the health and social care workplace or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Understand 2. 1 the ways in which health and safety requirements impact on customers and 2. 2 the work of practitioners in the health and social care workplace 2. 3 2. 4 LO3 Understand the monitoringand review of health and safety in the health and social care workplace 3. 1 3. 2 3. 3 analyse how information from risk assessments informs care planning for individuals and organisational decision making about policies and procedures analyse the impact of one aspect of health and safety policy on health and social care practice and its customers discuss how dilemmas encountered in relation to implementing systems and policies for health, safety and security may be addressed analyse the effect of noncompliance with health and safety legislation in a health and social care workplace explain how health and safety policies and practices are monitored and reviewed 2 analyse the effectiveness of health and safety policies and practices in the workplace in promoting a positive, healthy and safe culture evaluate own contributions to placing the health and safety needs of individuals at the centre of practice. 3 2 2 2 3 3 Learner declaration I certify that the work submitted for this assignment is my own and research sources are fully acknowledged. Student Signature: Date: 2 In addition to the above PASS criteria, this assignment gives you the opportunity to submit evidence in order to achieve the following MERIT and DISTINCTION grades. Grade Descriptor Indicative characteristic/s Contextualisation M1 Identify and apply strategies to find appropriate solutions Effective judgements have been made M2 Select/design and apply appropriate methods and techniques A range of sources of information have been applied M3 Present and communicate appropriate findings Communication is appropriate for familiar and unfamiliar audiences and appropriate media have been used D1 Use critical reflection to evaluate own work and justify valid conclusions Conclusions have been arrived at through synthesis of ideas and have been justified

How to Display Menu Item Hints in Delphi Applications

How to Display Menu Item Hints in Delphi Applications Use specific coding language to program Delphi applications to display a hint, or tooltip, when the mouse hovers over a menu component. If the ShowHint property is set to true and you add text to the hint property, this message will be displayed when the mouse is placed over the component (a TButton, for example). Enable Hints for Menu Items Because of the way Windows is designed, even if you set the value for the hint property to a menu item, the popup hint will not get displayed. However, the Windows start menu items do display hints. The favorites menu in Internet Explorer also displays menu item hints. It is possible to use the OnHint event of the global application variable in Delphi applications to display menu item hints in a status bar. Windows does not expose the messages needed to support a traditional OnMouseEnter event. However, the WM_MENUSELECT message is sent when the user selects a menu item. The WM_MENUSELECT implementation of the TCustomForm (ancestor of the TForm) sets the menu item hint to Application.Hint so it can be used in the Application.OnHint event. If you want to add menu item popup hints (tooltips) to your Delphi application menus, focus on the WM_MenuSelect message. Popup Hints Since you cannot rely on the Application.ActivateHint method to display the hint window for menu items (as menu handling is completely done by Windows), to get the hint window displayed you must create your own version of the hint window by deriving a new class from the THintWindow. Heres how to create a TMenuItemHint class. This is a hint widow that actually gets displayed for menu items! First, you need to handle the WM_MENUSELECT Windows message: type TForm1 class(TForm) ... private procedure WMMenuSelect(var Msg: TWMMenuSelect) ; message WM_MENUSELECT; end...implementation...procedure TForm1.WMMenuSelect(var Msg: TWMMenuSelect) ;var  Ã‚  menuItem : TMenuItem;  Ã‚  hSubMenu : HMENU;begin inherited; // from TCustomForm (so that Application.Hint is assigned) menuItem : nil; if (Msg.MenuFlag $FFFF) or (Msg.IDItem 0) then begin if Msg.MenuFlag and MF_POPUP MF_POPUP then begin hSubMenu : GetSubMenu(Msg.Menu, Msg.IDItem) ; menuItem : Self.Menu.FindItem(hSubMenu, fkHandle) ; end else begin menuItem : Self.Menu.FindItem(Msg.IDItem, fkCommand) ; end; end;  Ã‚  miHint.DoActivateHint(menuItem) ;end; (*WMMenuSelect*) Quick info: the WM_MENUSELECT message is sent to a menus owner window when the user selects (but does not click) a menu item. Using the FindItem method of the TMenu class, you can get the menu item currently selected. Parameters of the FindItem function relate to the properties of the message received. Once we know what menu item the mouse is over, we call the DoActivateHint method of the TMenuItemHint class. The miHint variable is defined as var miHint : TMenuItemHint and is created in the Forms OnCreate event handler. Now, whats left is the implementation of the TMenuItemHint class. Heres the interface part: TMenuItemHint class(THintWindow)private activeMenuItem : TMenuItem; showTimer : TTimer; hideTimer : TTimer; procedure HideTime(Sender : TObject) ; procedure ShowTime(Sender : TObject) ;public constructor Create(AOwner : TComponent) ; override; procedure DoActivateHint(menuItem : TMenuItem) ; destructor Destroy; override;end; Basically, the DoActivateHint function calls the ActivateHint method of the THintWindow using the TMenuItems Hint property (if it is assigned). The showTimer is used to ensure that the HintPause of the Application elapses before the hint is displayed. The hideTimer uses Application.HintHidePause to hide the hint window after a specified interval. Using Menu Item Hints While some might say that it is not a good design to display hints for menu items, there are situations where actually displaying menu item hints is much better than using a status bar. A most recently used (MRU) menu item list is one such case. A custom taskbar menu is another.

Global Marketing Strategy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Global Marketing Strategy - Assignment Example The second part of the study will be discussing the experience of 24/7 Stop as the primary provider of non-food commodities in the country. This part of the study will be covering the existing strategies that 24/7 Stop is engages in, such that they stay on top of the non-food retail industry. The paper will compose of the analysis of the company itself as well as the industry that it thrives in, particularly the non-food sector of the retail industry. The tools to be used in this examination include the analysis; analysis of its PEST and Porter's Diamond Model . The last part of the study will consist of a set of recommendations formulated by the researcher based on the results of the tools used in the analysis of the industry and the company. Thailand has done remarkably well since the beginning of the economic reform movement in 1978 (Wu, 1996). Between 1979 and 1995, Thailand's GDP grew at an average annual rate of 9.5 percent. Thailand's exports grew even faster and Thailand now ranks among the world's top 10 exporting economies. Moreover, Thailand's entry into the WTO will make Thailand's door even more open. Both foreign investment and foreign trade are expected to increase (Chow, 2000). Foreign firms will begin to penetrate Thailand's financial and telecommunication sectors. Trade will increase in both directions and Thai tariffs will be lowered and Thai goods will have better access to world markets open to members of the WTO. Using foreign competition to stimulate the domestic economy is a major objective in seeking to join WTO, as explicitly stated by the government Bangladesh has become a pioneer in the international garments industry as she is a major exporter of garments in the world which is very helpful in the country because it contributes not only to the country's GNP but also for a number of reasons like for example it had created a number of jobs. The country had created many new jobs of about 1.5 million, mostly for women - have been created by the country's dynamic private ready-made garment industry, which grew at double-digit rates through most of the 1990s. Despite the country's politically motivated general strikes, poor infrastructure, and weak financial system, Bangladeshi entrepreneurs have shown themselves adept at competing in the global garments marketplace. Bangladesh's exports to the U.S. surpassed $1.9 billion in 1999. Bangladesh also exports significant amounts of garments and knitwear to the EU market. The country has done less well, however, in expanding its export base-garments account for more than three-fourths of a ll exports, dwarfing the country's historic cash crop, jute, along with leather, shrimp, pharmaceuticals and ceramics (Bangladesh Garment and Exporters Association, 1997). Bangladesh' overview in their economy has made significant strides in that sector since her independence in 1971. Although the economy has improved vastly in the 1990s, Bangladesh still suffers an image crisis due to her civil war period of early 1970s. Despite major impediments to growth like the inefficiency of state-owned enterprises, a rapidly growing labor force that cannot be absorbed by agriculture, inadequate power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms, Prime Minister Sheikh HASINA Wajed's Awami League government has made some headway improving the climate for foreign investors and liberalizing the capital markets; for example, it has negotiated with foreign firms

Integrated Marketing Communications Plan Assignment

Integrated Marketing Communications Plan - Assignment Example Besides food, gift items are also sold by the business to the customers for their special occasions. It is essential for every business to market their products in order to boost sales. Marketing is vital for creating customer awareness and to pull the customers towards the commodity (Armstrong & Kotler 2005, pp.10). Strategies and Tactics Market Segmentation The primary target audiences of Ann’s Pantry are the families who belong to the elite class who can visit the place for recreational purposes and for celebrations such as private parties. The secondary target audience of Ann’s Pantry is the youth who belong to the upper class and those who can spend money on parties. The youth love to party and especially at places which have good scenic beauty and attractions. The main attractions of Moelfre need to be communicated to the people to increase demand. These include coastal footpath, Royal Charter and Moelfre lifeboat which the people can enjoy (Kashani, et.al. 1999, pp. 10). Characteristics The characteristics of the audience are that they belong to elite class, they live a lavish lifestyle and they like to try new things. These people love to enjoy during their spare time for which they are also willing to spend heavy amounts. The characteristics of the primary market differ from the secondary market because of the lifestyles since the youth are more fun loving, their choice of food and music and style of arranging parties differ from families. Benefits 1. A variety of foods is offered at Ann’s Pantry 2. People can also arrange parties; however, due to issues with regards to space, only thirty people can be adjusted at one time. 3. The quality of food is very good because of quality of raw materials used. 4. The three main attractions at Moelfre include coastal footpath, Royal Charter and Moelfre lifeboat. Goals and Objectives To make Ann’s Pantry successful, certain communication goals and objectives have been planned for three years. These goals are realistic which means that they are rational and they can be achieved within the time period of three years that have been defined. 1. Brand Awareness - Since Ann’s Pantry s located in a village, therefore, awareness with regards to the brand needs to be created. This is important because customers should know about it for them to visit the place (Dunbar & McDonald 2004, pp. 200). 2. Consumer Attitude - It is essential for the customers to develop positive attitude towards Ann’s Pantry and this is because this will enable them to spread good thing about it through word of mouth which will increase sales in the long-run. 3. Consumer Satisfaction - When customers visit Ann’s Pantry, it must be ensured that they are fully satisfied. A customer who is dissatisfied is more prone to spread negativity of the business which creates a negative image of the business. 4. Market Share - The aim should be to double the market share within three years, and for this, customer awareness must be improved and their level of satisfaction must be enhanced (Barker 2008, pp. 150). 5. Sales and Profit - Increasing market share by double digits will increase sales and profits too. Proposed IMC Program Promotional Tools In order to communicate the message and to involve the primary and the secondary customers, the online promotional tools which will be used by Ann’s Pantry that include the following. 1. Contest –

Recent human resource development analysis

Recent human resource development analysis Accompanied with the increasingly recognized facts that people, together with their knowledge and skill sets, are becoming the underpinning and sustainable drivers of the Companies competitive advantages, the strategic importance of the human resource development (Hereafter as HDR) has merited growing attention from a wide variety of the practitioners and scholars from different organizations and institutions. In many successful learning organizations, which advocated learning and development at workplace, have refashioned their training schemes and put HDR on their top priorities as the primary management tool. According to Bratton and Gold (2003), the HDR has been closely intertwined and interacted to such issues as performance management, organizational improvement, and become the core of the companies strategies. The rest of the paper is divided into two sections. In the first part, the theoretical perspectives of the contemporary HRD will be briefed and compared. Those factors that significantly reshaped the emergence of strategic approaches are discussed as well. The second part mainly endeavors to go further deep by analyzing the practicality of those theoretical perspectives, examining how they reflect themselves in real business environment. The Russells Ltd is selected for the case-study, the companys main problems may get sorted and feasible HDR solutions are offered. Definition of human resource development As the discipline of the HRD is still development and changing, it is impossible to deliver a precise and static definition of the HDR. Among all the researchers, McLean and McLean (2001), give relatively objective description of the HDR. It is any process or activity that, either initially or over the long term, has the potential to develop adults work-based knowledge, expertise, productivity and satisfaction, whether for personal or group gain or for the benefit of an organization, community, nation of ultimately the whole humanity. According to Tseng and McLean (2008), the substance of HDR consists of three core professional and practical issues, learning, performance, and change. In the recent decades, there have been wide scales of changes that occurred and affected the HDR conception and practices. Some of them have larger significance relative to others and are covered in this paper. The recent human resource development The rapid evolution in the technical advancement, together with the globalization of the markets, and the fast growth of the worldwide economies is provoking the dynamism of the global markets, making customers expectations fast changing and highly unpredictable. Against this backdrop, it requires more inputs and efforts from organizations to maintain their competitive edges over their rivalries. (Johnson et al, 2008). The change management starts to catch the spotlight of many organizations and institutions, and the norm, that learning is the only option for companies to remain flexible and responsive to changes emerged. (Bratton and Gold, 2003) At his moment, the HDR is recognized as the creative tool that builds the learning environment, supportive and advocating, helping the individuals in the organizations foster learning oriented mind-set and making sure they have the right skills in working in the changing environment. (Noel and Dennehy, 1991) Garavan et al (2000) specified that there are three major theoretical perspectives on the contemporary human resource development. The first one is capabilities-driven HRD, under which, the people within the organizations are perceived as the source of the firms competitive advantages. HRD in this context is seen as the tool that endeavors to make sure these organizational capabilities are delivered smoothly and freely, and therefore, the organizational performance could be improved as a result. (Garavan et al, 2000). However, this perspective is subject to several limitations. First of all, it fails to capture the reality that the capabilities possessed by the people may be unstructured and could not be used directly to facilitate the organizational growth. Another limitation of this perspective is the assumption that the organizations have clearly measured goals, which are consistent and less changing. However, in the real business, the goals are both changing and ambiguous. Theref ore, the task of HRD is to develop a wide range of skills and capabilities. In spite of these limitations, Luoma (2000) still insisted that the strategic HRD is the most effective approach to synchronize the workforce development with the organizational capabilities, ensuring that the learning and training could help the organizations meet their development goals. The second perspective on contemporary HRD, according to Garavan et al (2000), is connected to the employee-employer relationship and expectations. The role of HRD in the second perspective is all about managing and re-shaping the psychological contract binding between the employees and their organizations. Harrison (2002) specified that the psychological contract contains the feelings and attitudes of the employees toward their employers based on the level of satisfaction of their needs and rights desired. Such HDR is in particular, important and present during the corporate reconstructuring, in which the employee commitment, loyalty and flexibility become essential. (Bratton and Gold, 2003) As an impaired psychological contract could demolish the employees loyalty, commitment, motives and thus, performance level at the workplace, it is important to successfully and smoothly manage such relationship and expectations. (DelCampo, 2007) However, the task is not easy as it is difficult to capture and measure the implicit relationship, as the expectations are both vague and fast changing. Pate et al (2003) indicated that the impacts of the psychological contract violation are contextual, reinforcing the difficulty in managing the employees expectations. Hiltrop (1996) proposes that the reward schemes should be re-designed carefully if the organizations attempt to re-shape and reinforce the psychological contracts, and enhance the employees loyalty and commitment. The performance of the employees should be monitored continuously and contributions recognized fairly. On the other hand, the systematic and effective training should be provided equally to employees within the organizations, allowing them to develop their skills, knowledge, and to take on more challenging but rewarding tasks. However, even with the full implementation of the schemes suggested by Hiltrop (1996) and other researchers, it is still inevitable to avoid employee losses, the reducing level of commitment and loyalty due to the intensifying talent war and growing competition unless the organization is large and competitive enough. Garavan (2000) terms such phenomenon as economical disadvantages with respect to psychological contracts. The third perspective on contemporary HRD is centered on two parts, organizational learning and learning organization. (Garavan, 2000) This approach is developed from the recognition of the first approach. According to Swart et al (2005) the acknowledgement that the people, together with their skills and knowledge, constitute the sources of the firms competitive advantages urges the organizations to invest in the organizational learning. Compared to the first perspective, the third perspective simply shifts the focus from the simple, unstructured training interventions to learning and development throughout the organization, which is more systematic and organized. (CIPD, 2008) According to Bratton and Gold (2003), the major difference between organizational learning and learning organization is the different objectives set and perceived by the organizations. The former is more biased to the achieve the growth through the learning schemes while the later focus on the development of th e training schemes rather than the growth in the terms of other indicators, usually monetary. Thus, the organizational learning is more about the establishment of the accurate objectives of the organizations, which could facilitate the firms to design the training schemes more specially, while on the other hand, the organizational learning uses more accommodative and wide variety of training schemes. It creates a no-blame approach, using every mistake made as opportunities to learn. (Megginson et al, 1999) Compared to the organizational learning, the learning organization focus more on learning and regard the knowledge creation as a source of the organizations competitive advantages. In a nutshell, all the three perspectives on HRD are not isolated but connected to each other. It is worth mentioning that the study of the HRD should as a result, conducted from the multiple perspectives. It is also recognized that the HRD is becoming more and more strategically important. The major aspects and elements of the strategic HRD will be presented in the following section. Strategic human resource development The strategic human resource development (SHRD) mainly concerns the creation of the learning organization that facilitates learning and development at all levels of the organization, enabling the organizations to improve their performance and attain their competitive advantages. The development of the SHRD should be put in line with the design of the overall corporate strategies. (Bratton and Gold, 2003) According to Wognum (2001), there are three steps to align the SHRD with the development of the overall corporate strategy. Firstly, we have to identify and spot the weakness of the organizations, together with the problems and bottlenecks encountered at the organizational level. Secondly, investigating all the issues separately and assess the potential implications of potential HRD solutions. Finally, implement the HRD solutions properly, making sure the problems could be solved and development achieved with the support of the learning and development. In 1991, Garavan recognizes 9 primary characteristics of SHRD. They are listed as follow: 1. Integration with organizational missions and goals HRD should be put at priority of the strategy setting process of the organizations to ensure it can fit into the business planning smoothly. 2. Top management support the effectiveness could only be achieved if the top management give sufficient attention. 3. Environmental scanning in designing the HRD solutions, the environmental factors, both inside the organizations and outside should be considered. It is necessary for the organizations to carry out detail environmental scanning at the early stage of HRD design. (McCracken and Wallace, 2000) 4. HRD plans and policies in order to fully unleash its strategic implications, the plans and policies should be formulated for HRD, and get incorporated into the overall business strategies and planning. (Garavan, 1991) 5. Line manager commitment and involvement line managers participation and commitment are as important as the involvement of the top management regarding the implementation of SHRD. HRD specialist should design particular schemes that facilitate the involvement of the line managers. However, such proposal faces criticisms. The major limitation is that HRD specialist concerned more about the strategic level planning while line managers focus on the operational level. As a result, the partnership, which is more interactive and bilateral, between HRD specialist and line managers should be established. (Wognum and Lam, 2000) 6. Existence of complementary HRM activities the association between HRM and HRD activities should be aligned as well. ODonnel and Garavan (1997) recognized the importance of the integration between the HRD policies and plans with all other HRM process, including recruitment, appraisal, and rewards. 7. Expanded trainer role the trainer should be given more responsibilities in designing the training schemes as they are closely connected to the employees of different levels. Their roles are more strategic than used to be. 8. Recognition of culture the HRD should be planted as part of the culture of the organizations, becoming the values of the organizations that drive the firms growth and sustainability. 9. Emphasis on evaluation the evaluation of the implications of HRD is an indispensable part of the SHRD. Although the 9 characteristics introduced above seem straightforward and clear-cut, it is difficult task to achieve them all in the real business context. Bratton and Gold (2003) also implied that the SHRD did not merit enough attention in most of the organizations in U.K. The top management only cares about the aspects that have the most direct impacts on the corporations profitability, such as raw material costs and GA expenses. In 2000, McCracken and Wallace tried to reshape the definition of the SHRD and modify the 9 characteristics, making them more proactive. They defined the SHRD as the creation of learning culture, both responding to the corporate strategy and being able to influence it. To put it simply, it is still a long bumpy road for the HRD to become strategic in the management and development of the organizations. One of the key barriers is that the SHRD planning is highly contextual. However, it is insisted that the most effective HRD could be strategic, relevant and unique in any case. It can bring the corporations unique advantages, which are not matched by their counterparts and most importantly, more sustainable than those generated from other corporate strategies. Human resource development in practice As it is difficult to compare the theoretical perspectives without applying them to different real business scenarios, this paper will use the case study of Russells Ltd to illustrate the key aspects of the various perspectives regarding HRD. The major problems and setbacks faced by the organization will be introduced at beginning and the HRD solutions will be given accordingly. Moreover, the people in the organizations responsible for different process of the HRD will be identified and their roles explained as well. Crucial HRD problems in Russells Ltd Russells Ltd is a multinational manufacturing company, of which the business covers a wide range of sectors. The company is going through its tough period as it finds itself hard to maintain its leadership position within the industry. Due to the highly intensified industry environment and the vast changes the organizations have been experienced, the company has decided to sack a huge number of employees, from 2000 works nowadays to less than 800 people in ten years. The negative impacts on the psychological contracts between the employees and the organization will be, definitely impaired as the sense of insecurity among employees and their decreasing trusts with the company starts to dominate within the company. Secondly, to improve the departments effectiveness, Russells Ltd has agreed to use the matrix structure, promoting the project-based working structure. As a result, the company is galloping through a turbulent environment and has to undertake some changes at all level of the organizations. To minimize the negative impacts regarding its HR management, the company has hired some experts at this area and the emphasis is about the training and development that can help improve the employee performance. Thirdly, as the psychological contract becomes weakened, any inappropriate action may further stoke the tensions. Therefore, it is necessary to rebuild the employee commitment as well as enhance their loyalty and flexibility. Moreover, as the company shifts its structure of matrix, project-based nature, it is necessary to develop the multi-skills and fast adaptive employees to make sure the overall performance of the organization will benefit from the structural change. However, it seems that the company failed to align the HRD strategy with the overall corporate strategy. To conclude, the key areas for improvement and solutions needed for HRD include: help the organization manage change through learning and development, improve the performance at all levels of the organization, re-gain the commitment, loyalty and trust from the employees, better align the HRD with the corporate strategy. Solutions for HRD strategy in Russells According to Noel and Dennehy (1991), the organizational reconstructuring provides the opportunity for the companies to improve their HRD strategies and therefore facilitate the companies strategic re-formulation. Russells Ltd is striving to become the company, with its competitive advantages coming from its learning organization, which advocates continuous improvement and constant innovation. As a result, when designing the HRD strategies for Russells Ltd, several issues should be accounted for. Change management As mentioned earlier, the Russells Ltd decided to shift its structure to matrix. This type of structure has both its advantages and pitfalls and HRD specialists should have good understanding of both. First of all, the matrix structure allows a good exchange of ideas from different corners of the organizations and therefore allows better knowledge interaction and integration alongside different organizational departments. (Johnson et al, 2006) However, the overwhelmingly huge information flows may also bring in some confusion. Decisions-making will take more time and the employees may feel ambiguous about their tasks and responsibilities. Therefore, to help smooth the structural change, the communication between the employees and the organizations should be reinforced. At this time, the employees may want to know the process of the restructuring and the downsizing, and also how these changes may impact their work. (Hiltrop, 1996) Organizational visions and objectives should be direct ly channeled to the employees at different levels of the organization. However, it is inevitable to have some resistance from the employees. In this context, the employee empowerment could be used to minimize the friction between the employees and the organization. Performance management The needs of the development at both individual and organizational levels should be specified accurately in order to promote the organizational performance. The performance improvement could only be achieved if the performance appraisal (PA) accurately reflects the development targets and needs required by the performance improvement. The well-designed PA could motivate the employees to learn and develop continuously and to take more challenging but rewarding tasks. (Swart et al, 2005) Moreover, PA represents an opportunity for the management to communicate with the employees from different levels and sectors of the organization. They can together discuss their performance, capabilities, and potential areas for improvement and development. (Bratton and Gold, 2003) Such interaction also facilitates the company in revamping its psychological contracts with the employees, rebuilding their commitment and regaining their trust and loyalty. Through this discussion, the employee involvement is a very important topic that requires the consideration from the HRD specialists. As employees are more aware of the areas that need improvement that the company is, to encourage the employees to participate in the discussion about the PA is very essential. They are not only to listen from the management but should have their own suggestions and opinions. They should have a say in the decision making process. (Marchington and Wilkinson, 2006) This can make employees feel they are the owners of the company. Therefore, the performance management and performance appraisal provides the organization an opportunity to align the organizational goals with employee performance and development. The line managers should work closely with the HRD specialists to identify the key areas for improvement and design the training schemes. (Harrison, 2002) In the longer term, the organization should be able to have its own talent management team, which is able to spot the potential weakness and select the most effective training solutions to improve the employees performances. In the end, it will be expected that the organization itself will have the ability to evolve and improve, a type of learning organization described earlier in this paper. Moreover, it is important to have the schemes that develop the multi-skills employees to make sure the effectiveness of the individuals will not be impaired due to the change of the organizational structure. The project-based nature will also raise the concern for better team communication, which requires a wide range of social and communication skills. (Stwart et al, 2005) Psychological contract As we have discussed before, the employees commitment, trust, as well as their trust with the company may recover during the process of the performance management. However, it still needs extra efforts in rebuilding the relationship between the company and employees. Those who survive during the redundancy should be mentored carefully to make sure they will remain productive. Hiltrop (1996) proposed that the reward system should be refashioned in order to revamp the companys images among employees. In this case, only continuous improvement and learning will be rewarded. Strategic HRD alignment In order to fully carry out the strategic function of HRD, the Russells Ltd should account for the 9 characteristics of SHRD proposed by Garavan (1991). As the organization is attempting to rebuild its leadership position and maintain its competitive advantage through consistent innovation, the learning organization should be built and reward system should be modified carefully to provide incentives for being creative and innovative. It is very essential to form an organizational learning system as Russells Ltd is operating in a very competitive industry. Suggested by McCracken and Wallace (2000), the PESTEL and SWOT analysis have to be applied by both senior and HRD managers. Moreover, as one of the 9 characteristics of SHRD it is necessary to gain the support from both top management and line managers at Russells Ltd. As the HRM department has achieved good results during the past, therefore, it could be assumed there would be little friction from the management and the line manage rs could commit to the changes proposed. However, in order to be more strategic, the HRD should consider more issues surrounding the changing environment. First of all, the role played by trainers should be re-defined. At Russells, the trainers are not just delivering lectures to the employees or design relevant training program, but instead, the facilitators and consultants of the organizational changes. (ODonnell and Garavan, 1997) Secondly and most importantly, it should be recognized that the organizational transformation may have an impact with greater significance on the organizational culture. The shift to the matrix structure, together with the downsizing may possibly create an atmosphere full of uncertainty and anxiety. As a result, the employees are not able to concentrate in routine work and be resistant to the changes. HRD should attempt to minimize the impacts on the employees and take its best try to form the learning culture. Finally, the HRD should be monitored consistently and any variance should be investi gated and any change necessary should be taken. As a result, there is great possibility that Russells Ltd could manage to carry out its change smoothly in making HRD strategic. However, it should be emphasized that although HRD could be given strategic importance, their functions may vary across different industries and companies. There is no single best HRD strategy. (Biswajeet, 2003) The key players in implementing HRD strategy The design of the efficient HRD strategy is just the beginning of the HRD management. The success of the HRD strategy requires the managers to clearly understand the goals of the HRS strategy and effectively incorporate it into daily management practices. (Hiltrop, 1996) At this case, the key players in implementing HRD strategy would be line managers at Russells Ltd. However, a survey conducted by CIPD (2004) disclosed that a large proportion of line managers are reluctant to take on more responsibilities about learning and development, which are the key to achieve the pre-determined organizational goals. The solution proposed by Wognum and Lam (2000) is to give more authority to line managers over the HRD planning. It is not enough to let line managers participate in the implementation stage. Such employee empowerment may offer more incentives and motives to line managers in pro-actively playing its roles during the HRD strategy implementation process. Moreover, it is recognized by CIPD (2004) that the role of line managers is very important as they are the person who holds the performance appraisal meetings. Therefore, it is necessary to organize training for line managers in carrying out performance appraisals more effectively and smoothly. The skills to monitor, motivate and mentor are equivalently important for line managers if they are going to use more accommodative performance appraisals schemes. (Swart et al, 2005). Conclusion To sum up, although there have been researches describing the importance of HRD, its essence is still under-recognized and there are limited association between the HRD and corporations strategic planning. As the on-going evolution of the HRD and the companies commitment to continuous learning, it will not be far that HRD gains the attention as much as subjects like cost management, marketing do. In this paper, three theoretical perspectives of the HRD are introduced. They are capabilities-driven HRD, the psychological contract, and the organizational learning and learning organization. It is worth mentioning that there is a tendency that all three perspectives are equally important and could not be exercised separately. In the second part of the paper, the Russells Ltd is examined to fully understand how different HRD perspectives could work to offer the company better solutions regarding HRM.

My Unforgetable Trip to California

My Unforgettable Trip to California Mirna El Hadi American Intercontinental University English 106 Dr. Rebecca Coleman January 12, 2013 â€Å"My Unforgettable Trip to California† This past April, my friend and I took a five-day trip to California, where we visited San Francisco and the Napa Valley wine country. We flew out on a Friday morning and stayed in the Golden State until Wednesday afternoon. During our visit, we saw quite a bit of gorgeous scenery, ate some scrumptious food, and drank some tasty wine. All in all, it was a fun, relaxing, and memorable vacation.But the reason the getaway was truly memorable is because I lucky to spend such an amazing time where I got to enjoy an awesome weather visit some unforgettable places, and best of all, try new kinds of food, which is my favorite. â€Å"Cool Weather for a Vacation Pleasure† When it comes to San Francisco’s weather, all I can say is â€Å"Gorgeous. † I mean that many great aspects of our vacati on that were beyond our control just happened to go in our favor. In San Francisco, for instance, the weather was absolutely beautiful, with sunshine, very few clouds, and mild temperatures.The city has a reputation for being foggy, chilly, and windy, so we were fortunate to experience the lovely weather while we were there. In addition, my friend and I went to Pier 51, which is â€Å"home† to some sea lions during certain times of the year. Though there are many times throughout the year that the sea lions are not present, we visited when there were literally hundreds of them on and around platforms just off the pier. â€Å"Food Sensation on a Happy Vacation† Our trip to San Francisco was lucky for reasons other than weather and seasonal factors.During our first night in the city, we had no idea where to have dinner. So we sought the advice of our hotel concierge knowing fully well that he might direct us to an establishment of nominal quality simply because he was tr ying to promote it (this had happened to me on more than one occasion). However, the restaurant he chose for us was perfect. The decoration, service, and cuisine were beyond excellence. The prices were much more reasonable than I would have guessed! Our restaurant-related luck continued the following day during our walking tour of the Chinatown area.When our hunger overtook us suddenly, we ducked into the nearest establishment for lunch. Given our lucky streak, we should not have been surprised that it served the tastiest Chinese food we had ever come across. After lunch, we found a small fortune cookie factory in Chinatown which made the Oriental treats by hand. When I opened my cookie to see the message inside, I read, â€Å"Fortune smiles upon you always. † â€Å"Leaving Traces at Happy Places† Similarly, fortune continued to smile on us when we drove up to the Napa Valley region on Sunday afternoon.We attempted to secure a last-minute reservation at the famed Greys tone restaurant, which is operated by the Culinary Institute of America. As it turns out, there was a last-minute cancellation, and we were able to dine at one of the finest upscale eateries on the West Coast. For our driving winery tour on Monday, the weather again cooperated by giving us sunny skies and mild temperatures. It was the perfect backdrop for the miles of beautiful vineyards, rolling hills, and mountains which we saw, and I was able to take dozens of excellent photographs.However, the weather changed on Tuesday, turning cloudy and showering the area with a constant drizzle. But even that was lucky for us – since we had booked two seats on the Napa Valley Wine Train. We sampled food, drank wine, and chatted with winemakers without having to navigate the stormy weather in our car! â€Å"My Lucky Trip to San Francisco and Napa Valley† Shortly after my friend and I returned home, I realized that I had just enjoyed the best vacation of my life, and I may never take one that will be nicer.This realization stirred mixed emotions in me. I certainly felt fortunate that all of the uncontrollable factors aligned in such a way that made my trip extra special. But I also recognized that if I ever returned to that part of California, my trip might not be quite as fun. What I will always have, however, are the memories of my wonderful trip to San Francisco and Napa Valley. In fact, I have begun referring to it as my â€Å"Reverse Murphy’s Law† trip because everything that could go right did.Outline Title: My Unforgettable Trip to California Thesis: Weather, Places I visited, and Food sensation. I. Introduction: A. San Francisco’s Vacation II. Cool Weather for a Vacation Pleasure A. Weather conditions in San Francisco III. Food sensation on a happy vacation A. Food choices and new food experiences in San Francisco IV. Leaving traces at happy places A. Places we visited and the challenges we faced V. Conclusion A. Summarizes all the listed ideas and talks about memories and feelings

Competition in Health Care Essay

Competition in health care is becoming a major issue, because health care organizations are fighting for the best doctors, patients are fighting for the best treatments, and insurance companies are raising their premiums. Competition is a serious problem due to bad choices being made by hospitals, health plans, and businesses. This paper will explore in more detail the reason why there is so much competition in health care and why health care is steadily rising. Describe the different forms of competition that take place among various types of health care organizations. The different forms of competition for health care organizations would be price, quality, service and convenience. Doctors are willing to take on patients who can pay for their treatments instead of patients that have way of paying. â€Å"Physicians may compete for patients who are able to pay for services and do not health insurance, or for patients who have their expenditures paid for by third party insurers so phy sicians compete on a non-price basis, based on location, colleagues’ referrals, and reputation.† (Rivers & Glover, 2010). Hospitals compete for the best doctors offering better equipment or highly trained employees. Hospitals compete also for patients where they offer better services and cheaper prices. Insurance companies compete to have the best premiums, benefits and access to great health care insurance. There is a lot of competition in health care, but what this really boils down to is how well patients are being taken care of and if they are satisfied with their choices of doctors, hospitals and health insurance. Evaluate the benefits and pitfalls of competition in health care and suggest alternatives if competition was not the primary driver of operations in the U. S. health care system. Some of the benefits of competition would be Patient’s bill of rights, insurance companies taking pre-existing conditions, wealthier people paying taxes on health insurance, medical devices, and Medicare. Other  benefits would be for those individuals who cannot afford health insurance to not be penalize d for not having insurance, and children being able to stay on their parent’s health insurance until age 26. The pitfalls of competition would be hospitals will have to be punished if a patient is readmitted after being discharged from their facility within a certain number of days. Some physicians will have to sell their practices to hospitals because of overhead. The quality of health care has decreased while the cost has increased. Another pitfall would be employers cutting their employees hours from full-time to part-time so they do not have to pay for their employee’s health insurance. â€Å"Health care reform takes small steps toward addressing this problem but trends toward pay performance and bundled payment could worsen this mismatch if they fail to account for the needs of underserved patients and practices serving them.† (Fiscella, 2011). An alternative if competition was not the primary driver would be hospitals and doctors seeing patients free of charge. Patients would not have to worry about paying co-pays or medical bills, because there would be more free clinic s offering medications for cancer treatments, diabetes and other conditions. Explain the elements of successful competition and the use of competitive intelligence. A successful competition would be hospitals and doctors coming together to perform care for patients. Competitive intelligence in health care is observing other health care organizations to see if they are alike and to figure out what their next move is. â€Å"Competitive intelligence or business intelligence is a tool of business leader, a competent central vision resulting from an extensive report about a competitor company that continually seeks to exploit its weak points, everything to avoid surprises competitive.† (Bucur & Pribac, 2010). In order for competition to be successful between hospitals, drug companies, and physicians they all need to provide cheaper prices, quality care, and discounts. Describe the influence competition has on the services offered by health care organizations and the choices patients have. The influence competition has on services from health care organizations is that every organization is different some offer certain services like MRI’s, CT scans, and lab work. While other organizations offer other types of services like rehabilitation, prenatal care, and HIV classes. Patients should always be a part of their treatment plans and they should know all the information about  the procedures that are being done on them. Patients should be allowed to choice what doctor or hospital they want to go with. Patients would like to have accessibility to doctors or specialists without having to go far away from their homes. Conclusion Health care competition is becoming the most talked about issue with hospitals and doctors. If hospitals and doctors worked together there would be fewer problems, because patients would not have to go too far to see their doctors, and they could go to the hospital of their choice. Every day there is something new being invented or used in the medical field which can be competition for all health care systems. There has to be better way to deal with all the competition that is going on in this field. References Bucur, O. N., & Pribac, L. I. (2010). Intelligence key Weapon Competitiveness. Annals of DAAAM & Proceedings, 1473-1474. Web.b.ebschost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu. Fiscella, K. (2011). Health Care Reform and Equity: Promise, Pitfalls, and Prescriptions. Annals of Family Medicine, 9 (1), 78-84. Doi: 10.1370/afm.1213 Rivers, A. P., & Glover, H. S. (2010). Health Care Competition, Strategic mission, and patient satisfaction: research model and propositions. NCBI. www.ncbi.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC28656781