HR - Organization Environmental Pressures Essay

HR - Organization Environmental Pressures - Essay Example This paper gives a critical evaluation of these pressures, and it proposes a strategy that the organization can use, for purposes of solving or mitigating the pressures under consideration. In meeting the objectives of this paper, the researcher will create a table, identifying three environmental and organizational pressures that Wal-Mart faces. Furthermore, this paper will rank these pressures, in accordance to their influences. This paper will also contain a detailed description of these pressures, and how they have evolved over a period of time. Furthermore, it would identify how these pressures have impacted the organization, from its financial perspective, and also from the perspectives of its employees, and that of the researcher. An important organizational pressure that Wal-Mart faces is on the expectations that its stakeholders have on it. The stakeholders of the company expect it to be a high performer. This expectation on Wal-Mart is based on its position in the global retailing sector. As of 2014, Wal-Mart was voted as the world’s largest company, in terms of revenues. Furthermore, the company has employed more than 2 million people, and it is considered as the biggest retailer in the world. Furthermore, the company is considered as the biggest grocery in United States, and as of the year 2009, it was able to generate 51% of the total sales made by the company. Based on these statistics, the company is under pressure to maintain its good performance. Furthermore, because of increased competition, emanating from new retailers in the industry, the company is forced to develop strategies that would ensure it remains a market leader in the retailing industry. To be a high performer, the company has i nitiated a cost leadership strategy, whereby it sales its products at a cheaper cost, to attract customers to it. Furthermore, the company has sought to decrease its capital expenses, by

U.S Foreign Policy on Pakistan Essay Example for Free

U.S Foreign Policy on Pakistan Essay The United States’ foreign policy on Pakistan has been the subject of many reviews and the disparate and often unambiguous viewpoints articulated by Journalists and others have painted a picture of a country facing gargantuan challenges and in desperate need of a coherent U. S. policy that will help to pull it from the brink of nuclear abyss. Pakistan is one of the most populous countries in the world and shares border with Iran, Afghanistan, China and India. It is a nation of diverse culture and different ethnic groups. Pakistan was an Ally of the United States in the 1980s; the period during which the Soviets were waging war in neighboring Afghanistan. Relationship soured when the Taliban, an Islamic terrorist group, ruled Pakistan during 1996 – 2001. However, the relationship between the two countries improved after the September, 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United State and Pakistan has now become an ally in the fight against terrorists. The United States policy towards Pakistan cannot be viewed in isolation as Pakistan is seen as a vital country that can lend stability to a region fraught with war and ethnical disagreements. Pakistan has nuclear capabilities and there is a grave concern pertaining to nuclear proliferation: The hope is that terrorists will not get their hands on nuclear material from that country. Terrorists associated with the Taliban have been using parts of Pakistan as a base to launch terrorist attacks. Helene Cooper, writing in The New York Times on March 8, 2009, articulated that experts in the region feel that the United States may need to have conversations to leaders of the Taliban if it is serious about gaining peace and stability in Pakistan and surrounding countries. This is at odds with the stated policy of the Bush administration of not having dialogs with terrorists. Cooper cites a new thrust by the new Obama administration to approach elements within the Taliban. United States Policy focus and changes are closely linked to concerns to not just about the Taliban, but also concerns about Al Qaeda. Mark Mazzetti and David Rohde article in The New York times of June 30, 2008 posit the grave concerns regarding the Al Qaeda threat to Pakistan, the United States and other nations. Osama Bin Laden, the architect of the horrific attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, has been expanding his network in Pakistan and the journalists quoted intelligence sources detailing Osama’s activities. The Journalists opined that there were serious missteps on the part of Washington and Islamabad concerning Policy agreements. The journalist also said that there was a secret US plan using Special Operation forces to launch missions into Pakistan to capture and kill the leaders of Al Qaeda. Carlotta Gall’s article in the New York Times of March 11, 2009 provided further evidence of a paradigm shift in US policy towards Pakistan. Hardliners in the Taliban, such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is reported to have softened his stance of demanding the exodus of all US troops from Pakistan and is now more willing to attend talks. American Officials are not commenting on negotiations with the Taliban however feedback from diplomats in Kabul shows that the United States has grown more receptive to negotiations. Helene Cooper and Sheryl Stolberg insightful article in the New York Times of March 7, 2009 also posit that the new Obama administration’s shift in policy concerning Pakistan would also mean a willingness to engage moderate elements of the Taliban. The US successfully engaged militant Sunni Militias in Iraq which led to a diminution in violence in that country. The Journalist feels that the new administration wants to adopt and translate this Policy to Pakistan. The US policy towards Pakistan has evolved over time and the journalistic views have painted a picture of dynamic and ever changing dialog. Steve Myers article in The New York times dated July 29, 2008 speaks of President George Bush’s praise for Pakistan’s determination to fight extremists along its borders and the allies seem to be working together again. Work Cited Cooper, Helene and Sheryl Gay Stolberg.â€Å"Obama Ponders Outreach top Elements of Taliban. † New York Times. March 7, 2009: WK1. Cooper, Helene. â€Å"Dreaming of splitting the Taliban. † New York Times. March 8, 2009: WK1. Gall, Carlotta. â€Å" As Us Weights Taliban Negotiations, Afghans are already talking. † New York Times. March 11, 2009: A8. Myers, Steve L. â€Å"Bush Praises Pakistan Just Hours After US Strike. † New York Times. July 29, 2008 Mazzetti, Mark and David Rohde. â€Å"Amid US Policy Disputes, Qaeda grows in Pakistan. † New York Times. June 30, 2008.

Theories of Reward and Motivation

Theories of Reward and Motivation Psychology, derived from ancient Greek roots â€Å"psyche† and â€Å"logos†, which means â€Å"mind† and â€Å"knowledge or study† respectively, is defined as the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes, in which the behaviour refers to anything we do (Coon Mitterer, 2012, p. 14). Psychologists uses systematic observation to gather empirical evidence to derive a scientific theory. Not until 130 years ago, when William Wundt set up a laboratory to study conscious experience in a scientific manner, that psychology started as a science (Coon Mitterer, 2012, p. 26). For thousands of years individuals have been informally observing human behaviours. Recently, many individuals claim that the theories on human behaviours and mental processes psychologists had invested much time and effort to discover are merely â€Å"common sense† (Coon Mitterer, 2012, p. 15). For instance, performance can be improved by giving rewards, is a common sense that society perceive as the truth. However, the act of enhanced performance by giving rewards to individual is confined within a small social circle, or are derived from a person’s attempt to make sense out of their physical world (Qian Guzzetti, 2000, p. 1). The higher the value of rewards, the higher the drive levels or motivation of an individual, the better the results achieved. Rewards are generally attractive to people, and hence would force them to put in effort to obtain it. This wrong â€Å"common sense† theory which still persists today, giving rewards, especially material rewards, will enhance one’s performance, is inaccurate. This theory is first rejected by Sam Glucksberg in his experiment. In Glucksberg’s (1964) research, he investigated the influence of strength of drive (motivation) on functional fixedness strength, which is defined as a type of cognitive bias that involves a tendency to see objects as only working in a particular way (Cherry, n.d.). Glucksberg seek to prove that rewards do not allow an increase in problem-solving time. In his experiment, Glucksberg set up different scenarios to compare the effect of rewards: A group of people were tested for time taken to solve problem when offered incentives, and another when incentives are not offered. These two groups were then divided into further subgroups where the subjects put into test in two other scenarios: when the solution is more straightforward and when the solution requires more thought process. This ensured that there was no biasedness in the experiment and that the increase in functional fixedness strength was only due to incr ease in drive levels. Through this experiment, it was concluded that participants used relatively longer time to solve problems requiring more thought process when given rewards. Also, in his research, Glucksberg concluded that there was no effect of rewards on an individual when the solution to the problem is straight forward. Similar timings were recorded and the difference are relatively smaller as compared to those of complex problem solving. Throughout many years, numerous researches upon this topic had been conducted and they concluded with the same observation (e.g. Bijleveld, Custers, Aarts, 2011; Hagger Chatzisarantis, 2011; Jordon, 1986; Panagopoulos, 2013). In the society, economists generally believes that incentives enhances performance (Panagopoulos, 2013, p. 266). To this day, it has been proven many times by psychological researches, which suggest the opposite to this theory. While this is true in some cases, for example, when the task is simple and only requires memory work or has a straight forward solution (Bijleveld, Custers, Aarts, 2011, p. 865), it does not work in others. Rewards function as a barrier when individuals are faced with complex problem-solving tasks. Material rewards stale an individual’s ability to solve complex problems (Glucksberg, 1964). Glucksberg (1964), concluded in his research that rewards influence drive levels and hence impair problem-solving performance. Similarly, research has also shown that monetary incentives not only does not improves one’s performance, it might cause drastic results as well (Bijleveld, Custers, Aarts, 2011). When introduced to the monetary rewards consciously, i ndividuals tend to consciously reflect on the reward, and hence thwart one’s performance (Bijleveld, Custers, Aarts, 2011). This research has refute the effectiveness of a powerful motivator – money. Several research also assess the effect of material rewards on motivation, and results turn out to be undesirable as it actually undermines it (e.g., Hagger Chatzisarantis, 2011; Jordon, 1986). Hence giving rewards does not enhance performance in many cases. The fact that giving rewards does not enhance, or might harm performance can be explained psychologically. Individuals are unable to focus on the task when given rewards. Bijleveld, Custers and Aarts (2011) indicates that consciously perceived rewards cause people to reflect on what is at stake, hence prompt people to more strongly concentrate on task stimuli and details. However, being too focussed in the task can be harmful to an individual’s performance. Enhanced concentration might interfere with thought process and hence effective performance, for example, processing of unnecessary and irrelevant ideas, hence thwart the enhancement of performance (p.866). Presence of distractions is a reason behind divided attention, which causes problem solving cannot take place effectively. This supports the consistent finding where rewards do not result in higher performance. This can also be explained by a research done by Olivers and Nieuwenhuis (2006), that such distractions from th e main problem â€Å"is due to an overinvestment of attentional resources in stimulus processing, a suboptimal processing mode that can be counteracted by manipulations promoting divided attention† (p. 364). Hence, increased focus and concentration due to higher motivation levels, can hurt performance. It is not uncommon to observe individuals being motivated by rewards. This might be the source of the theory. However, such observations are confined to a certain fixed situation in the individual’s social setting. In this kind of observation, individuals tend to avoid taking into account of situations which is inconsistent with their â€Å"findings† (Taylor Kowalski, 2004). They are easily refuted by experiments and research as they are conducted systematically and did not come from mere human observation. Various scenarios and control experiment are involved to ensure that the results have no room for disputes. Differing from the flawed â€Å"common sense† theory of human behaviour, the results which proved that rewards does not enhance performance are unchallengeable as they are supported by facts which can be tested and reiterated by professionals (Coon Mitterer, 2012). Only by involving in psychological research can one actually see a fair and non-biased p erspective of human behaviour. Reasons behind thwart performance can be explained scientifically through experiments. They are supported by the science behind human behaviour. Therefore rewards does not give, or rather impair performance. References Bijleveld, E., Custers, R., Aarts, H. (2011). Once the money is in sight: Distinctive effects of conscious and unconscious rewards on task performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 865-869. Cherry, K. (n.d.). What is Functional Fixedness in Psychology? Retrieved from Psychology Complete Guide to Psychology for Students, Educators Enthusiasts: http://psychology.about.com/od/problemsolving/f/functional-fixedness.htm Coon, D., Mitterer, J. (2012). Introduction to Psychology: Active learning through modules. Wadsworth, Ohio: Cengage Learning. Glucksberg, S. (1964). Problem solving: Response competition and the influence of drive. Psychological Reports, 15, 939-942. Hagger, M. S., Chatzisarantis, N. L. (2011). Causality orientations moderate the undermining effect of rewards on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 485-489. Jordon, P. C. (1986). Effects of an extrinsic reward on intrinsic motivation: A field experiment. Academy Of Management, 29(2), 405-412. Olivers, C. N., Nieuwenhuis, S. (2006). The beneficial effects of additional task load, positive effect, and instruction on the attentional blink. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 32, 364-379. Panagopoulos, C. (2013). Extrinsic Rewards, Intrinsic Motivation and Voting. The Journal of Politics, 75(1), 266-280. Qian, G., Guzzetti, B. (2000). Conceptual change learning: A multidimentional lens. Reading Writing Quarterly, 1-3. Taylor, A., Kowalski, P. (2004). Naive psychological science: The prevalence, strength, and sources of misconceptions. The Psychological Record, 54(1), 15-25. Neo Ruo Ting

Emily Grierson’s Need For Control in Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily Essays

Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily,† illustrates the evolution of a small, post-Civil War community, as the new generation of inhabitants replaces the pre-Civil War ideals with more modern ideas. At the center of the town is Emily Grierson, the only remaining remnant of the upper class Grierson family, a â€Å"Southern gentlewoman unable to understand how much the world has changed around her.† (Kazin, 2). This essay will focus on Emily Grierson and her attempts to control change after her father’s death. Emily’s need to control change is first evidenced through her relationship with her father. Their bond, based on a high-class aristocratic ideal system, lasted until the death of her father. A mental image of Mr. Grierson’s relationship with Emily is painted by the narrator, who â€Å"speaks for his community† (Rodman, 3), as â€Å"Miss Emily†¦in the background, her father†¦in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door.† Mr. Grierson’s position between Emily and the area outside the house prevents anyone from entering the house or leaving the house. Bullwhip in hand, Emily’s father fends off any would-be husbands because, as Dennis W. Allen states, â€Å"no suitor is ‘good enough for Mrs. Emily’† (689). Allen goes on to say that â€Å"Mr. Grierson stands between his daughter and the outside world†¦. Emily’s romantic inv olvements are limited to an incestuous fixation on her father.† (689). This incestuous relationship, though not implicitly stated, is highly probable since the only male that she loves is her father. This special bond reveals itself after the death of Emily’s father. According to the speaker, â€Å"When her father died, it got about that the house was all that ... ...'s 'A Rose for Emily.'" Modern Fiction Studies 30 (Winter 1984): 685-96. Birk, John F. "Tryst beyond Time: Faulkner's 'Emily' and Keats." Studies in Short Fiction 28.2 (Spring 1991): 203-13. Blythe, Hal. "Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily.'" Explicator 47.2 (Winter 1989): 26-30. Faulkner, William. â€Å"A Rose for Emily.† Literature for Composition. 4th ed. Ed. Sylvan Barnet, et al. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. Kazin, Alfred. Bright Book of Life. Boston: Little Brown Company, 1973. Kobler, J. F. "Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily.'" Explicator 32 (1974): 65. Muller, Gil. "Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily.'" Explicator 33 (1975): 79. Rodman, Isaac. "Irony and Isolation: Narrative Distance in Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily.'" Faulkner Journal 8.2 (Spring 1993): 3-12. Schwab, Milinda. "A Watch for Emily." Studies in Short Fiction 28.2 (Spring 1991): 215-17.

Benefits of Distance Learning Essay

The benefits of distance learning are apparent as distance learning aims at meeting student’s needs. The offered outline is composed according to student’s needs and abilities. The most important factor affecting many future students who are willing to study is financial problems. Therefore firstly they consider financial benefits of any type of learning. Ability to take part-time job along with ability to save money plays an important role in choosing studying course. Students having financial problems also consider benefits in time management and distance learning gives the opportunity to study when it is convenient for a student. Therefore time management benefits have to follow financial ones. Furthermore, effectiveness of studying process is also a matter of concern for future students. Ability to correspond with teachers and other students via e-mail, telephone and chat rooms offers wide range of studying opportunities. Constant access to on-line libraries and data bases affects student’s choice. Students having full-time and part-time jobs would be able to pass exams during their available time. Finally, social benefits take the last place, because considerations about financial and studying benefits are more important in modern society as education is very expensive and one firstly thinks abut the ability to pay for the course and only then about the opportunities to lead social life. References Distance Learning Benefits. (2005). Retrieved October, 27, 2006, from http://www. distance-learning-college-guide. com/distance-learning-benefits. html

Free Essays on Enron-v- Andersen

1. The possible stockholders in this situation are the stockholders, the FDA, the Law firms, all of the accountant firm’s ea. The Big Five & Enron, the waste management services. The parties that are involved directly would be Enron, the stockholders, the Law offices, the Enron workers, George W. Bush (Arthur Anderson was a big help in getting him elected into office), and the Wall Street Journal. 2. Gross Misconduct-Behavior not conforming to prevailing standard or laws. Negligence-Dishonest or Bad management by persons entrusted or engaged to act on another’s behalf. Arthur Andersen is guilty of Gross Misconduct because they did not adhere to the laws established by GAAP. Their rights to be an auditing firm can be taken away, and then they can also be taken to court on not adhering to the laws established. 3. It should be illegal to work for a firm that is your client, the example are the workers working for Enron were accountants for Andersen. They risks and potential dangers that can result from allowing this to happen can be that they can merge documents to make fake ones or even the code of conduct can be messed with. 4. The implication that can arise from shredding documents is that a person that has shredded the documents can be tried for not providing original documents that the company had in their possession, but now does not. The company Enron was an open trading company so Andersen took away the rights to public view from their shareholders. 5. Full Disclosure- the vendor should be given reasonable chance to provide a patch or new version before the vulnerability details were made public. Yes, They are since the users are paying the right to stock they should be given the chance to know what is going on. 6. Yes Arthur Andersen did since they shredded the documents they took away from the sight of the information. The documents that they shredded might have been the answer that w... Free Essays on Enron-v- Andersen Free Essays on Enron-v- Andersen 1. The possible stockholders in this situation are the stockholders, the FDA, the Law firms, all of the accountant firm’s ea. The Big Five & Enron, the waste management services. The parties that are involved directly would be Enron, the stockholders, the Law offices, the Enron workers, George W. Bush (Arthur Anderson was a big help in getting him elected into office), and the Wall Street Journal. 2. Gross Misconduct-Behavior not conforming to prevailing standard or laws. Negligence-Dishonest or Bad management by persons entrusted or engaged to act on another’s behalf. Arthur Andersen is guilty of Gross Misconduct because they did not adhere to the laws established by GAAP. Their rights to be an auditing firm can be taken away, and then they can also be taken to court on not adhering to the laws established. 3. It should be illegal to work for a firm that is your client, the example are the workers working for Enron were accountants for Andersen. They risks and potential dangers that can result from allowing this to happen can be that they can merge documents to make fake ones or even the code of conduct can be messed with. 4. The implication that can arise from shredding documents is that a person that has shredded the documents can be tried for not providing original documents that the company had in their possession, but now does not. The company Enron was an open trading company so Andersen took away the rights to public view from their shareholders. 5. Full Disclosure- the vendor should be given reasonable chance to provide a patch or new version before the vulnerability details were made public. Yes, They are since the users are paying the right to stock they should be given the chance to know what is going on. 6. Yes Arthur Andersen did since they shredded the documents they took away from the sight of the information. The documents that they shredded might have been the answer that w...