Friday, August 21, 2020

6 traits of great managers

6 characteristics of extraordinary directors Need to be supervisor at being a chief? It’s not as basic as simply being a decent audience and ensuring everybody appears on schedule. Genuinely extraordinary supervisors pull in the best specialists. On the off chance that you’re great at being in control, youâ hold onto star representatives and advance their vocations directly alongside yours. Overseeing isn't a simple aptitude, however it is conceivable to construct. Regardless of whether you think you’re truly extraordinary as of now, investigate these tips and see whether you can improve in a specific region. Your representatives will thank you, thus will your boss.1. Have your employees’ backs.Bad supervisors toss their representatives under the transport. Don’t be that chief. At the point when your group exists inside an air pocket of trust and has confidence in its pioneer, all the individuals will need to cooperate to meet proficient objectives. Hotshot your employees’ victories an d give spread to them when you have to. At the point when you fabricate a situation of regard, your activity will be so much easier.2. Be liberal with your time.Even in the event that you see the individuals who report to you legitimately all the time in the corridor or during easygoing drop-ins, it’s still imperative to commit a portion of your week after week timetable to one-on-one gatherings with your group. Indeed, even only 15-30 minutes of committed registration time per individual tells your workers you’re there to address concerns and monitor their progress.3. Give profitable feedback.Giving criticism is significant, however make a special effort to ensure you give extraordinary input. Don’t simply tell somebody they did a â€Å"great job,† disclose to them why what they did was so incredible. In the event that you get work that’s disappointing, make some noise don’t simply trust things improve whenever. Useful analysis en route for the little stuff assists representatives with arriving at their expert objectives. At the point when your representatives know you’re put resources into them progressing admirably, they’ll step up their game for each task.4. Enable representatives to go after the stars.Push your group to accomplish heavenly work (and telling them you think they’re equipped for it)- don’t let them settle for just alright. Not exclusively will this lead to results you and your group can display, yet it likewise will ingrain certainty that makes workers need to go well beyond constantly. Expect first class work, and individuals will acclimate to meet your expectations.5. Fabricate trust.Having a veritable connection with your workers is an extraordinary thing. You unquestionably don’t must be excessively easygoing and pal your style can remain carefully expert and still be based on trust. Make a compatibility so individuals feel they can come to you with issues and e rrors or good thoughts! Don’t divider yourself off in some supervisor turret and neglect to fabricate associations with the individuals you’re entrusted to lead.6. Stay humble.Remember, regardless of whether you’ve moved high up on the stepping stool you’re as yet satisfying your obligations. You’re as yet adapting too-about your industry and about the craft of overseeing individuals. Don’t simply sit back on your trees. Make sense of how your group can assist you with learning and assemble your vocation, and afterward help them consequently.

Friday, June 5, 2020

Power Up Plc - Free Essay Example

Capital Appraisal of Power Generating Alternatives Introduction Power Up Plc is planning to set up a new power plant. The company has three options to choose from – gas power, nuclear energy or renewable energy power plant. This report analyses the financial viability of the three options by using the net present value method. The net present value is one of the most scientific methods for capital appraisals as it discounts the future cash flows. The results from the net present value method are also compared with three other capital appraisal methods – discounted payback period, accounting rate of return and internal rate of return methods. All calculations are based on the data provided in the case. The capital appraisal methods are based on projected cash flows and discount rates and hence any changes in their values can have a significant impact on the value of a project. The report also discusses other information that would help in finalising one of the options as a preferred one. Capital Appraisal The net present value is one of the preferred capital appraisal methods as it gives the absolute net value of a project to a company. The net present value method discounts the future cash flows of an investment by its discount rate. The discount rate is based on the risk of the project and gearing ratio. According to the Capital Asset Pricing Model, the expected return on equity is given by the following formula (McLaney, 2009, p. 199). Expected return on equity = Risk-free return + Beta*(Market return – risk-free return) The gilts (T-bills) have the lowest risk as it is backed by the government and is as good as risk-free. The return on gilts is taken as the risk-free return. The Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) is given by the following formula (Brealey Myers, 2003, p. 389). WACC = Rd*(1-T)*(D)/(D+E) + Re*(E/D+E) Where Rd = Return on debt T = Taxation rate Re = Return on equity D = Value of debt E = Value of equity D/(D+E) is the gearing ra tio of a company. The expected return on equity and WACC calculations for the three options are shown in the table I. They are based on the data provided. Table I – Cost of equity and WACC The cost of equity is highest for the nuclear power plant because of its high beta. Even though the WACC of nuclear and renewable energy options are more than that of the gas plant option the differences are significantly less as compared to the differences in cost of equity. The high equity costs of the nuclear and renewable energy options are countered by their high gearing which limits the increase in the WACC due to lower cost of debt and tax deductibility of interest rates. The net present value calculations for the three options are based on the following common assumptions: The power plant starts operations at the beginning of the 4th year. The direct, and licensing and ancillary revenues are increased annually by the rate of inflation. As an example, the revenues in the 4th year are calculated by compounding four times the current revenue estimates with the annual inflation rate. All yearly clean-up costs are also increased by the annual inflation rates to take into account the likely increase in costs over years. The depreciation is taken into account from the first year to spread the total cost of the project over the 25 years period. It is assumed that the company will raise the full cost of loan in the first year itself and hence the interest costs are assumed from the first year itself. The annual interest costs calculated by multiplying the total building cost and debt rate are more than the annual interest costs given in the case for the gas power and renewable energy plants. The annual interest costs given in the case are used for the net present value calculations assuming that the company will use debt less than 100% of the building cost in these options. The annual capital allowance is 10% of the total building cost of the power plant. The capital allowance is used from the 4th year onwards when power plant starts operations. The appendix I and II shows the profit and loss, and net present value calculations of the gas power plant option. The actual tax is calculated on the basis of the capital allowance as accounting depreciation is not recognised by the taxation authorities for income deductibility. The net cash flows in the appendix II are discounted by the WACC (10.72%) of the gas power plant option. The net present value of the gas power plant is  £1,636 million. The positive net present value of the power plant indicates that the firms value will increase by this amount if the project is run successfully over 25 years as per the projections. The appendix III and IV shows the profit and loss, and net present value calculations of the nuclear power plant option. The WACC used for discounting the nuclear power plant cash flows is 12.10%. Even though the cost of equity for the nuclear power plant option is significantly higher than the equity for the gas power plant, the increase in the WAC C is limited by the higher gearing of the nuclear power plant. The net present value of the nuclear power plant is  £1,062 million. This is  £574 million lower than the net present value of the gas power plant. Even though the nuclear power plant adds value to the firm, the gain is significantly lower than in the gas power plant. Hence the gas power plant is favoured over the nuclear power plant in the net present value capital appraisal method. The appendix V and VI shows the profit and loss, and net present value calculations of the renewable energy plant option. The net cash flows in the appendix VI are discounted by the WACC of 11.05%. The net present value of the renewable energy power plant is  £1,052 million. This is similar to the net present value of the nuclear power plant but significantly lower than the gas power plant. The gas power plant has the highest net present value among the three options and hence it is the preferred option under the net present value option. But the projections are based on a number of assumptions and these should be thoroughly checked before finalising the option. As an example, the net present value relies on the cost of capital which may not be simple to calculate in situations like varying inflation rates (Howe, 1992, p. 34). The net present value is one of preferred capital appraisal methods as it gives the absolute value addition by a project. But there are other methods also which are less complex and need lesser calculations. They are used by managements for quick assessment of investments. The three other capital appraisal methods used for evaluating the power plant options are discounted payback period, accounting rate of return and internal rate of return. The discounted payback period method calculates the period in which the cumulative discounted future cash inflows equal the discounted initial investment. Some companies use payback period method but the discounted payback period m ethod is better than the payback period method as it discounts the future cash flows. If the cumulative discounted cash flows of the proposed investment turn positive in the year ‘n, then the discounted payback period is given by the following formula. . Discounted payback period = (n-1) years + (-Cumulative cash shortfall at the end of (n-1) year) / (Net cash flows in the year n) Discounted payback period gives a quick assessment of the time when a company will receive back the cash invested in a project. But the discounted payback period method ignores all cash flows after the cut-off date (Brealey Myers, 2000, pg. 97). Ignoring cash flows after the discounted payback year may result in opting for an option that would add lower value to the shareholders. Accounting rate of return is the ratio of the average accounting profit over the duration of a project to the average investment. Average investment is calculated as the average of the initial investment and f inal value of investment at the end of the project. As the full value of all three power plants is depreciated by the end of the project, the final value of the investment is 0. The internal rate of return gives the discounting rate at which the net present value is 0. It gives a quick measure of the return rate as compared to the cost of capital. Also it gives a measure of how much cost of capital can change before the project value becomes 0. But it has its limitations too as it does not take into account the scale of investment (Chang Swales, 1999, p.133). The appendix VII shows the gas power plant values in the above mentioned three capital appraisal methods. The investment in the gas power plant will be recovered in 5.84 years. As the period is less than the project life, the project is approved under the discounted payback period method. The option also has a very high accounting rate of return of 93.71%. The internal rate of return for the gas power plant is 33.77 % which indicates that the cost of capital can increase substantially before the net present value of the project will become 0. The appendix VIII shows the capital appraisal values of the nuclear power plant. The investment in the nuclear power plant will be recovered in 13.22 years, lower than the life of the project but higher than the gas plant. The accounting rate of return and internal rate of return are 18.72% and 16.25% respectively. The lower internal rate of return indicates that there is little scope for the cost of capital to increase before the net present value of the project will become 0. The appendix IX shows the results of the three capital appraisal methods for the renewable energy option. The results are similar to that of the nuclear power option with even lower safety of margin in the internal rate of return. The results of three capital appraisal methods also favour the gas power plant followed by the nuclear and renewable energy plants. The e xternal consultant has highlighted the varying degrees of risks associated with three alternatives. Nuclear power plants are regarded as higher risk than a gas or a renewable energy plant due to the potential losses if things go wrong. Any leakage or explosion in a nuclear plant can release hazardous radioactive particles that can cause severe damage to human lives and environment. The damage in a gas power plant explosion is likely to be less severe and even lower in a renewable energy option. But the risk factor is not extremely high in nuclear power plants as demonstrated by the successful operation of a large number of nuclear power plants across the globe. The higher beta and expected rate of return for equity reflect the higher operational risks associated with the nuclear plant and renewable energy options, and also higher gearing risks. The operational risks are included in the discount rates for different options. The beta of Power Up with the nuclear plant option is 1.5 as compared to the beta of 0.8 with the gas plant option. The cost of equity in the nuclear plant option at 20.8% is significantly more than the 12.8% for the gas plant option to reflect higher commissioning risks of a nuclear plant. The beta for renewable energy option is also higher than the gas power option because of delays faced in regulatory approvals in setting up a large scale renewable energy project. Partial increases in the equity returns of the nuclear and renewable energy options are due to increases in the gearing ratio. The return on equity increases with the increase in debt-equity ratio (Miller, 1988, p. 100). But the fact that nuclear option has a higher equity rate than the renewable energy even though it has lower gearing indicates that operational risks are included in the discount rate. Also the rates of debt for both nuclear and renewable power plants are higher than the gas power plant which reflects the higher bankruptcy fears due to high g earing (Brealey Myers, 2000, p. 482). The inclusion of different operational and financial risks in higher discounts rates means that there is no need to further increase the discount rates. The above capital appraisal of the three options is based on certain assumptions which should be verified before making a decision. First, the net present value of the gas power plant is highly dependent upon the gas prices in the future. The net present value calculation assumes that the gas prices will grow at the 3% rate of inflation. But gas supplies are limited because they are non-renewable. The growing demand of electricity and power across the world, especially from developing countries like China and India has increased oil prices in the recent years (Dolbeck, 2008, p. 1). It is also likely to impact gas prices. Hence it is important to check the likely gas prices over a long-term with well-established institutions that are focused on trekking and projecting oil and gas prices . Second, the weighted average cost of capital method assumes that the company is going to maintain same debt-to-equity ratio during the duration of the project (Massari et al., 2007, p. 153). It is most likely to change as the company generates profits and possibly invests in other projects. The future debt-to-equity ratios for the company should be checked with the finance department. If changes in the gearing ratio do happen over the period of the project then they should be reflected by using an appropriate capital appraisal method like the adjusted present value method. Third, a significant part of revenues is to be generated from licensing and ancillary activities. This needs to be analysed in view of the governments policies on climate change. The possibility of decline in gas power plant licensing and ancillary revenues in the medium to long-term future should be analysed and appropriate impact in terms of future cash flows should be built in the capital appraisal model. Fourth, the gearing ratio of the gas power plant option is half or lower than half of the gearing ratios of the nuclear and renewable energy options. Modigliani and Miller (1963, p. 434) showed that the value of a firm increases with increase in debt due to tax benefits of interest. Hence it would be useful to check with the corporate finance department of the company the reason behind the low gearing ratio for the gas option. Conclusion The capital appraisal methods – net present value, discounted payback period, accounting rate of return and internal rate of return – favour the gas power plant over the nuclear and renewable energy plants. But the calculations are based on certain assumptions which should be thoroughly vetted before finalising the option. Any changes in revenues and/or costs will have an impact on the results of the capital appraisal methods. Personal learning The exercise to evaluate three power plants has increased my personal knowledge in the field of corporate finance. The things learnt in this module and as well as things learnt previously were reinforced during the analysis of this case study. First, the cost of debt increases with the degree of gearing as lenders take more risk and debt assumes some of the characteristics of equity. At higher gearing levels, the lenders are exposed to more risk and have lower safety of margin. This is evident as the cost of debt in the renewable energy option is more than the cost of debt in the nuclear energy option due to higher gearing. The variation in the cost of debt across the three options is also in line with the Modigliani and Miller proposition II that states the cost of debt remains constant during the initial increases in gearing but then increases to reflect higher risks and bankruptcy costs (Brealey Myers, 2000, p. 482). The cost of debt increases from 9% in gas power plant at 30% gearing to 10% in nuclear power plant with 60% gearing, a 1% increase in cost of debt when gearing increases by 30%. But the cost of debt then increases to 11% as gearing changes to 65% in the renewable energy power plant, same absolute 1% increase in the cost of debt when gearing increases by only 5%. Second, the issue of new equity will result in dilution of earnings per share and would be a matter of concern for the management (Opler et al., 1997, pg. 21). This appears to be one of the reasons behind the higher gearing in both nuclear and renewable energy options as low gearing in these two options would result in issue of high amount of equity and significant dilution of earnings per share in the initial years of the investment. Third, the net present value calculations depend on a number of factors and it is important to research them. As in this case, changes in gas prices in the future may dramatically impact the net present value of the gas plant but not o f nuclear and renewable plants. Also, government regulations change over time and can impact values of a project. The focus on climate change may encourage the government to give more subsidies to renewable and nuclear plants in the future. This would put a gas power plant into disadvantage and the company may find it difficult to find buyers for its electricity. Hence such factors should also be taken into consideration before finalising an option. Bibliography and references Brealey, R. A. and Myers, S.C., 2000. Principles of Corporate Finance, 6th edition, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. Brealey, R. A. and Myers, S.C., 2003. Capital Investment and Valuaion, McGraw-Hill Company. Chang, C.E. and Swales, G.S., 1999. A Pedagogical Note on Modified Internal Rate of Return. Financial Practice Education, Vol. 9, Issue 2, pp. 132-137. Dolbeck, A., 2008. Valuation of the Oil and Natural Gas Industry. Weekly Corporate Growth Report, Issue 1473, pp. 1-12. Howe, K.M., 1992. Capital Budgeting Discount Rates Under Inflation: A Caveat. Financial Practice Education, Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp. 31-35. Massari, M., Roncaglio, F. and Zanetti, L., 2007. On the Equivalence between the APV and the wacc Approach in a Growing Leveraged Firm. European Financial Management, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 152-162. McLaney, E., 2009. Business Finance: Theory and Practice. Pearson Education Limited, 8th edition. Miller, M.H., 1988. The Modigliani-Miller Propositions After Thirty Years. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 99-120. Modigliani, F. and Miller, M., 1963. Corporate Income Taxes and the Cost of Capital: a Correction. American Economic Review, Vol. 53, Issue 3, pp. 433-443. Opler, T.C., Saron, M. and Titman, S., 1997. Designing capital structure to create shareholder value. Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Volume 10, Number 1, pp. 21-32.

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Harold and the Purple Crayon Lesson Plan

Grade: Approximately Fourth GradeSubject: Language ArtsLesson Title: Harold and the Purple Crayon Lesson Plan Materials and Resources Needed Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett JohnsonPurple crayonLarge sheets of paper Reading Strategies Used Sketch-to-StretchVisualizingRetelling Overview and Purpose Students will use the reading strategy Sketch-to-Stretch to develop concepts, summarize information heard and retell the story through drawing.The purpose of this activity is to gain listening comprehension skills. Educational Standards Students will read, write, listen and speak for literary response and expression.Students will read, write, listen and speak for critical analysis and evaluation. Objectives and Goals Present personal responses to literature that make reference to characters, plot, and theme.Create a story using elements in literature.To motivate children to ask them if they like to draw.Then ask, when you listen to a story how many of you close your eyes and picture what is happening? Then have them close their eyes and try and picture a horse next to a barn. Once they open their eyes ask them what they saw, what color was the horse? What color was the barn?Go around the room and show the children how each person imagined something different.Tell the children that they will be using their imagination when you read a story to them.Introduce the book, Harold and Purple Crayon by, Crockett Johnson.Tell the students that will have to listen carefully to the story that is going to be read because they will be drawing what they hear.Tell the students they will be using their ears to listen and their hands to draw what the character Harold is drawing in the story.Ask the students what t ypes of things do they think they will be drawing?Ask students, do you think everyone will have the same drawing as everyone else? Why? Why not?Arrange for students to find a spot on the floor where they will have a lot of room to draw.Ask students where they should start drawing on their paper once the book begins. What part of the paper, where you draw next when you come to the end of the paper, etc.Retell the name of the book and begin reading.Stop a few times at the beginning of the book and ask what they are drawing. Do this so they understand what they should be doing.To end the lesson, have the students place their drawings at their desks and then have them walk around the room to view everyones pictures.Share and compare their drawings.Have students come up and retell the story through their drawing.Ask questions to compare such as, What did Brady draw in this picture that Hudson left out?Have the students observe how each child has their own perception of what happened in t he story.Assess quality texts using accuracy, objectivity, and understanding of the book. Independent Activity: For homework have each student draw a picture of their favorite part of the story using only their memory. Verification and Assessment You can verify your objectives by looking at the drawings from class and their homework assignments. Also: Compared drawings with one anotherOrally shared their opinion when retelling the story through the drawingDrew a picture of what they thought happened in the book by using elements in the story

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The Book Of Genesis A Historical Narrative - 1334 Words

The book of Genesis is a historical narrative. Old Testament narratives serve two main purposes: (1) to chart the ongoing progress of salvation history, and (2) to provide illustrations of God’s nature and purpose and the appropriate responses of the people to God’s purpose (Fee and Stuart, How to read the Bible for all its worth, 2014) There a few main things to remember when reading Old Testament narratives; as the reader need to recognize the levels at which narratives function, keep the focus on God and his purpose for the world, we need to avoid moralizing biblical narratives, and avoid allegorizing the meaning of the text. It is important to be cautious when interpreting the Old Testament narratives. Old testament narratives are not the answers to all of our theological questions, normally does not teach a direct doctrine, and all narratives are selective and incomplete (Fee and Stuart, How to read the Bible for all its worth, 2014) Big Picture- Though the book of Genesis is very early in the biblical storyline a pattern has already developed; people sin, people face the consequences, god redeems, and repeat. As soon as sin entered the world, God began to reveal his plan to reverse the effects of the fall. This began with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, then to their son Cain killing his brother Abel, civilization becoming so wicked that God had to send a flood, and finally, God confusing the human speech because humanity tried to build a tower to the heavens.Show MoreRelatedThe Influences on Genesis1288 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Influences on Genesis To study Genesis in terms of its literary and historical content is not to say that we are in any way being irreverent in our reading of this part of the Old Testament. In other words, it is possible to read Genesis in both a spirit of appreciation for its position as the opening exegetical narrative of the Bible and as a document that reflects literary and historical realities and influences during the time when it was being written down. This paper examines some of theRead MoreIn the article, Genesis book of, describes how potential controversial indication that is found by800 Words   |  4 PagesIn the article, Genesis book of, describes how potential controversial indication that is found by the academic scholars about the source and thoughtful of the genesis book. The academic scholars talks more about the different categories of potential controversial within the genesis book such as text, sources, narratives, the patriarchs and the history, etc. These details however can be controversial to conventional and traditional supporters that have been powerfully believe in the earliest explanationsRead MoreA Christian View Of The Bible1255 Words   |  6 Pagestrying to affirm, and that the central narrative can be relatable, and inspiring to every person, and every people group around the world. This is because the Holy Spirit is involved in this process from both the compositional, and readability aspect. 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Through the modern framew ork of a divorce of culture and church, Robert Jenson, in his book, A Theology in Outline: Can These Bones Live?, deconstructs and illustrates various theological concepts in an attempt to answer the greater theological and historical question within his subtitle: is Christian theology a pile ofRead MoreThemes from Genesis 1-111238 Words   |  5 Pagesfirst five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; called Torah in Hebrew. The term Pentateuch is from the Greek for Penta (five) teuchos (books). Both Jewish and Christian traditions view these five books as a single unit, forming the backbone of the rest of the Bible. Both traditions place the Pentateuch first in the divisions of the Old Testament (Law, Prophets, and Writings). Other designations for the Pentateuch include ‘The Book of Law Read MoreEssay about Religion 111 Study Questions Week 1979 Words   |  4 PagesREL 111 Questions For Review Chapters 3, 4, 5 Chapter 3 Q1. What levels of meaning can be found in Genesis 1.1-2.4a? This passage gives meaning to the first creation story. It gives the order of how God created everything over the first six days starting with light and ending with the creation of animals and humans. Q2. What are the similarities and differences between the biblical and the Babylonian presentations of cosmic beginnings? The similarities between biblical and Babylonian beginningsRead MoreViews On The Historical Adam Essay1061 Words   |  5 PagesFour views on the historical Adam consists of four prominent biblical scholars, who together, provided there understanding of scripture to a project that shed light on the figure identified in Genesis 1 as Adam. The four contributors to this book are: Dr. Denis Lamoureux, Dr. John Walton, Dr. C. John Collins, and Dr. William Barrick. Four Views on the Historical Adam visibly outlines four key views on the Genesis figure Adam held by evangelicals. The content provided is theologically consistent inRead MoreAnalysis Of Jenson s The Call Of Abraham And Moses 1092 Words   |  5 Pagesgauge to define what Israelite creation actually is. The rejection of the antecedent conditions of creation manifest itself for Jenson in the book of Genesis, not science and not history. It is only God’s words that bring things into being, when â€Å"God said: Let there be light, and there was light. God saw that the light was good† (New American Bible Genesis 1:3-4). God does not need any preconditions or help to create the world; God, acting as the sole source of both existence and goodness, simplyRead MoreWaiting For The Land Book Review838 Words   |  4 Pagesfor the Land Book Review BIBL3103-A Due: 5/10/15 â€Æ' Waiting for the Land, by Arie C. Leder, is an interesting book for a number of reasons. Leder does a good job looking at the Pentateuch as a whole story, and tying it into the narrative of the bible. Basically, the whole story of the Pentateuch covers the giving of the law (for the purpose of fellowship), rejection of the law, and departure from fellowship. Leder also states that the Pentateuch has a chiastic structure, with Genesis standing inRead MoreThe Hebrew Bible1371 Words   |  6 PagesIn the course of human history, few books have fascinated scholars to the extent of the Hebrew Bible. This is not to say that biblical scholarship has been static. 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Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Human Resource Management for Business Process- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theHuman Resource Management for Business Process. Answer: Every organisation has a human resource department for recruiting employees, training and development and their retention. Effective human resource management gives competitive advantage to the organization. Employee centered culture was found to ensure enormous success when adopted by an organisation. In this context the essay discusses how HRM activities enable organizations to become more competitive in their markets.For this purpose the organisation American Express would be considered as an example as it has been successful in this regard. The essay discusses the HRM practices in the area of recruitment and selection, training and development, reward structure and motivation, and retention. Recruitment and selection process is the value added HRM process. It represents the ability of the organisation to hire new employees and improve human capital. The key aspects of HRM in recruitment and selection process is to find the best recruitment sources, use the job market well to source best talent and keep the company operating so that it gains competitive advantage. An organisation must come up with innovative HR practices for implementing recruitment solutions, measuring and analysing the performance of the recruitment process. In order to gain competitive advantage the mangers and recruiters must be quick in making night hiring decisions (Stone et al. 2015). American Express is recognised as Aon Hewitt Regional Best Employer. The global services and payments company has won several awards, which help it drive top talent. Further engagement of the employee is driven by external validation. American Express has tailored strategies to business priorities, after investigating different business environment in its markets. For instance, it has targeted strategy formulated in Malaysia to recruit Japanese employees. It is the combination of traditional recruitment process and social media hiring. This strategy helped the company to successfully fill all the positions and meet the employee composition in different markets. Recruitment of employees takes place effortlessly through leadership-oriented development, strong employer brand, inclusion initiates and progressive diversity (Jauhari et al. 2013). The company ensures competitive advantage by considering regional variations when hiring and giving leadership position to HRs. Successful organisations in the market are found to have HR practices driven towards employees advancement opportunities. Large companies have clearly defined training and development opportunities and paths for its employees. It gives knowledge to the potential employees on how to advance their careers by meeting set goals of the organisation. It adds not only credibility to the organisational claims but also increases new applicants curiosity. In this process the HRM design training programs by monitoring theemployee activity levels, and customer satisfaction (Wright et al. 2011).The human resource practices of American express is geared towards training employees to equip them with skills to deliver client service excellence. For instance, it adopted global rotation program to allow the high performers to work in different markets for six months alternately. It gives new learning opportunities to the employees and builds new skills. Employees prefer to stay with organisation owing to the benefits gained by building new networks and relationships. This process of training and development is unique when compared to traditional approaches like soft skills/cross-cultural training classes. Hence, the organisation has competitive advantage over others. Using leader centric focus, HRM in American express have created strong culture of leadership. Leadership development programs helped develop leadership qualities in people. It is evident from 91% of senior leadership positions filled internally in 2014 (Hewitt 2018). Rewards and recognitions are the tool to retain employee and prevent them to accept another competitive job offer. If the HR managers provide comprehensive benefits to the employees it acts as tool to retain the experienced employees and recruit dedicated talents. HR must act strategically to design employee performance reviews tools. The role of HRM is to design rewards and motivational programs that ensure competitive recruitment and increase revenue growth of company (Hendry 2012). American Express responds to fast-changing market conditions across the mainland, by setting its compensation and benefits, that is upto level of other best practices. The company could hire best talent by customising its rewards and benefits as competitive as rising companies in same market. The organisations HRM is popular for rewarding meaningful results of the employees, celebrate their loyalty and praise employees work. The rewards comprise of monetary and nonmonetary items, e-buttons, personalised e-cards, Blue Awards allow the workers to redeem gift of their choice. CEO gives congratulatory message and crystal awards to hardworking employees. Employees are motivated to participate in sports events to reinforce their potential (Jensen et al. 2016). HRM plays a crucial role in retaining top performers of the organisation. Top performers give high productivity and retaining them allows company to sustain competitive advantage. In this process the company scrutinise the employees work satisfaction, organisational environment, motivational factors and monetary benefits to develop strategies to retain employees (Terera and Ngirande 2014). American express achieves competitive advantage by using innovative retention strategies. Employee retaining in companies are attracted by opportunity to hone project/time management skills and increase cross-cultural awareness through rotation program. Further, the organisation keeps the employees engaged by its healthy living program that promotes good health to employees and their families. Such employee-centered culture helps organisation drive revenue growth and improves productivity. Further, American Express is known for its flexible working hours. It drives innovation and collaboration amon g employees. The HR managers have worked their best to save commute time of employees. It helped retain the employees and attract more from millennials to women. A very few high potential employees have left the organisation owing to its leader-centric focus. The HRM strategy to attract and retain new talent is Employee-value proposition (Marshall et al. 2015). HR retains employee in company as they perceive it to be a global brand with challenging workplace and leader centric culture. Thus employees perceive career progression opportunities and stay loyal (Heckl et al. 2010). These HRM strategies explain the competitive advantage of the organisation over other successful companies in the market. It can be concluded that HRM plays a crucial role in workforce development. An organisation like American Express gains competitive advantage in financial services sector by relying on its human resource managers for recruitment and selection of best talents, training and development programs, rewards and recognitions schemes and successful retention programs. The HRM practices that lead to competitive advantage of an organisation are leadership-centric model, powerful employee value proposition, effective performance management tools, employee career opportunities and empowerment. References Heckl, D., Moormann, J. and Rosemann, M., 2010. Uptake and success factors of Six Sigma in the financial services industry.Business Process Management Journal,16(3), pp.436-472. Hendry, C., 2012.Human resource management. Routledge. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=enlr=id=iTEsBgAAQBAJoi=fndpg=PR3dq=HRM+strategies++american+express+in+financial+sector+ots=EcCaGAKbOBsig=PglJYQXZH83IOnL3W9_mpp0YSdI#v=onepageqf=false Hewitt, A. 2018.Best Employers Regional Case Study American Express. [online] Aon.com. Available at: https://www.aon.com/apac/attachments/talent-organization/best-employers/2013%20Reports/Aon%20Hewitt_BE_Case%20Study_AmericanExpress_final.pdf [Accessed 13 Mar. 2018]. Jauhari, V., Sehgal, R. and Sehgal, P., 2013. TALENT MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: INSIGHTS FROM INFOTECH ENTERPRISES LTD.Journal of Services Research,13(1), p.161. Jensen, J.A., Cobbs, J.B. and Turner, B.A., 2016. Evaluating sponsorship through the lens of the resource-based view: The potential for sustained competitive advantage.Business Horizons,59(2), pp.163-173. Marshall, A.J., Ashleigh, M.J., Baden, D., Ojiako, U. and Guidi, M.G., 2015. Corporate psychopathy: can search and destroyand hearts and minds military metaphors inspire HRM solutions?.Journal of Business Ethics,128(3), pp.495-504. Stone, D.L., Deadrick, D.L., Lukaszewski, K.M. and Johnson, R., 2015. The influence of technology on the future of human resource management.Human Resource Management Review,25(2), pp.216-231. Terera, S.R. and Ngirande, H., 2014. The impact of rewards on job satisfaction and employee retention.Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences,5(1), p.481. Wright, P.M., Boudreau, J.W., Pace, D., Sartain, L., McKinnon, P. and Antoine, R., 2011.The chief HR officer: Defining the new role of human resource leaders. John Wiley Sons.

Sunday, April 19, 2020

May 31, 2000 Essays - Irregular Bones, Skeletal System,

May 31, 2000 Comm 101 Topic: New ways to aid in nerve regeneration. General Purpose: To inform Specific Purpose: To inform the audience about news techniques and mechanisms that aid in nerve regeneration. Central Idea Statement: The new techniques for nerve regeneration involving magnetic, electrical, and chemical mechanisms look very promising. INTRODUCTION I. The site is rather common: someone in a wheel chair unable to use their lower body, or worse, unable to function from their neck down because of an accident. You may even know one of these people. They all have one thing in common: spinal nerve injury. To the majority of us, one of the more famous and recent cases involving spinal trauma is that of Christopher Reeve, known to most of us as Superman. Reeve was riding his horse when he fell off, landed on the back of his head and twisted his neck. His spine was damaged near the second cervical vertebrae; that being two vertebrae away from the base of the skull. He states that after his accident he saw a handbook written in 1990 that didn't even mention anyone higher than [the fourth cervical vertebrae] because 70 percent of them didn't live longer than five days. I am very lucky my injury happened at a time when treatment and surgery had improved. Dr. Cotman from UCI, who worked with Reeve says that Reeve remains optimistic that a c ure is only a few million dollars away. II. Prior to the end of the Second World War, if a person survived a severe spinal cord injury, the injury still usually resulted in their early death. This was because of complications that accompanied the injury, such as infections to the kidneys and lungs. Though the development of new antibiotics has greatly improved life expectancy, until recently medical science had not been able to restore nerve function. III. According to researchers at the University of Alabama using data from the regional SCI Centers, there are 7,800 traumatic spinal cord injuries each year in the US. Yet these numbers do not represent accurate figures since 4,860 per year, die before reaching the hospital. Current estimates are that 250,000-400,000 individuals live with spinal cord injury or dysfunction; forty-four percent of these occur in motor vehicle accidents. More than half of these injuries occur to individuals who are single, and more than 80% of these individuals are male. IV. Within the last five years, a great many things have been happening in the area of neurological research. Research and treatment involving spinal and nerve injury has progressed considerably. In this speech I will inform you on the new and promising techniques that are currently undergoing testing for human treatment, in terminology that we will be able to understand. BODY I. The nervous system consists of the brain, spinal cord, and all branching nerves. There are two parts: the central nervous system, or CNS, and the peripheral nervous system, or PNS. The CNS, consists of the brain and spinal cord, while the PNS involves all the nerves that branch off from the spinal cord to the extremities. A. When the spine is crushed or bent in an extreme accident, the spinal cord inside is severely bruised and compressed, causing localized injury and death to many of the nerve cells and their fibers. Some of injured nerves fibers survive intact, but lose their electrical insulation, or myelin, over the very short distance of the injury zone. Nerve impulses are blocked at this point. 1. The myelin is the part of the nerve that actually transfers the electrical signal that enables your muscles to move when you want them to move. B. Nerves regenerate at the rate of about a cm a month. Keep in mind that not all nerves can regenerate (the spinal cord is a prime example) and if a nerve is too damaged or is severed it cannot come back C. Peripheral nerves will regenerate to a certain extent on their own, but they don't regenerate over very long distances. D. The big problem with treating spinal injuries is the fact that mature nerve tissue does not spontaneously regenerate. II. The three basic ways to treat nerve damage are: first, produce regeneration of the remaining segment of a nerve fiber, or make new connections on the other side of

Sunday, March 15, 2020

Development of the Individual Essay Example

Development of the Individual Essay Example Development of the Individual Essay Development of the Individual Essay For the purpose of privacy my case study child will be known as A throughout this assignment. I have gained permission from A’s parents and my work setting. A is a 7 year old female and is in Year 3, she attends her local mixed sex Primary school. A’s parents separated when A was about 3 years old, it was not an amicable separation although both parents are on better terms now. A lives with her Mother and older sister who is 12 years old. A has regular contact with her Father and goes to stay with him every other weekend and sometimes during school holidays too. According to Bronfenbrenners Ecological System (Doherty amp; Hughes, 2009) these changes were in A’s Microsystem, â€Å"the microsystem is our most immediate context, and for most children, is represented by their family and their home. † (Rank, 2009) Mother says A was not hugely affected by the divorce, however A’s Father has since remarried and has a baby girl who is one year old, this change in A’s Microsystem has affected her. A’s Mum has found her to be quite attention seeking since the arrival of A’s baby half-sister. Both I and the class teacher (CT) have observed A making up stories to her peers and staff in school that appear to be a way of gaining attention. When A was in Reception it was noticed by staff that she struggled to see and used to put her face quite close to the paper when writing, although this was mentioned to A’s Mum at the time, A did not start wearing glasses until she was in Year 1. Apart from this A has no other health problems and her physical development is normal and on track for a child of her age. According to National Curriculum assessment test results she is average in literacy and numeracy. A relies on the few close friends she has within the classroom quite a lot, she often gets upset if they do not sit with her in class, she prefers working with them to working alone. A is not a very confident child and she gains confidence from learning alongside them, this demonstrates Vgotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development theory where â€Å" Vygotsky views interaction with peers as an effective way of developing skills and strategies. † (McLeod, 2007) Despite a lack of confidence A is generally a happy child; she is kind to other children and is always polite and well mannered. From observations A tries hard in class although she does tend to daydream and this can impinge on her then carrying out a task if she has not listened to instructions properly. This viewpoint is supported by A’s Mother who has said A can sometimes be quite ‘dizzy’ at home and ‘in a world of her own’, she forgets things quite easily and has to be reminded quite a lot by her mum, Mother thinks this could be another way of getting her attention. Descriptions and Analysis of Evidence This case study will focus on the areas of social/emotional development and cognitive development. Its aim is to show that A is developing normally in these areas, observations (Appendices A1, A2, A3, A4 amp; A5) of A will be used which, when applied to child development theories, will provide evidence to support this. The method of observation used for this case study was narrative observations made within the classroom. Piaget’s cognitive development theory proposes that there four periods of cognitive development that are common to all children. These are the sensorimotor period, the pre-operational period, the concrete operational period and the formal operational period. According to Piaget A should be in the concrete operational period, which runs from age 7 – 11 years. In this period children ‘begin to think logically about events they experience and can order, evaluate and explain them’ (Doherty amp; Hughes, 2009, p 40). During one observation (A 1) A was completing an activity that involved putting a list of sentences in the correct order to make a set of instructions. A was able to do this accurately and with minimal assistance, this demonstrated that ‘children in the concrete operational period are able logically order objects’ (Doherty amp; Hughes, 2009, p 265). A was also observed (A3) using coordinates to locate places on a fictional map and then making her own map and writing up the coordinates of various places on it. This demonstrates an understanding of spatial reasoning which is another sign that she is in the concrete operational period. Within the concrete operational period Piaget states that a child is able to conserve number and liquid quantity at age 6-7 years and substance and length at age 7-8 years. ‘Conservation is the understanding that any quantity remains the same, despite any physical distortions’ (Walsh, 2011). Appendix 5 shows that when A was asked to perform a liquid conversion test and an object conversion test she was able to do both of these correctly, this again shows that A’s cognitive development is at a level that is expected for her age when compared with Piaget’s cognitive development theory. A flaw in Piaget’s theory is that it does not take into account the role of social interaction, ‘Piaget ignored the role of social interaction. It seems highly likely that children’s learning is strongly influenced by teaching from others. (Walsh, 2011) Piaget believed that development preceded learning; this is unlike Vygotsky who felt social learning preceded development. Vygotsky believed that â€Å"every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). † Vygotsky (cited in Lear ning Theories, 2012). Vygotsky’s theory encompassed three themes, the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO), the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and social interaction. He believed that someone with greater subject knowledge or ability than the learner (MKO) could help the learner develop; the MKO would usually be a teacher or older adult but could also be a peer. The ZPD is, according to Vygotsky, the zone where learning takes place. It is the gap between what the learner can actually do independently and what they can potentially achieve with help from a teacher or with peer collaboration. To Vygotsky social interaction was hugely important and ‘it is through these interactions that children are able to acquire the important values and skills of a society. (Doherty amp; Hughes, 2009, P. 40) Observations of A (A 1 amp; 2) demonstrated that she acquired new knowledge with the help of others. When A was observed during a comprehension session (A 1) she worked together with her partner in order to answer the questions correctly. Peer collaboration, where two students work together to achieve a particular goal, is an important part of Vygotskyâ⠂¬â„¢s theory. When A was stuck on a particular question her partner looked back through the text with her and helped her find the correct answer. This shows that having a MKO helps a child’s development as without her partner A would have been unable to find the answer. In the Literacy lesson (A2) A was given a list of sentences to reorder into a correct set of instructions. From observations it appeared A struggled slightly at first, however the CT took time to go back over with A the work they had completed in previous lessons on instructions. CT then linked the previous work to the new task A was being asked to complete. A completed the task after this with no further assistance. The CT had identified A’s ZPD and had given her enough support to then enable A to complete the work independently. This also incorporated the ‘scaffolding’ approach, where prior knowledge is identified then a new concept is introduced and finally the new learning is connected to the prior knowledge. The observations demonstrate that A’s development within the classroom was aided by her social interactions with her peers as well as her CT. Without these interactions A would have been unable to fully complete the tasks she had been set. According to Erikson’s Social Learning Theory A is in psychosocial stage 4 which is known as Industry vs Inferiority. During this stage (which covers the ages of 5-11 years approximately) ‘through social interactions, children begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments and abilities. ’ (Cherry, 2012) Erikson believed that in this stage children are more willing to share and be reasonable; they want to work hard and do well at school. Peer groups begin to have greater significance and can have an impact on the child’s self-esteem and confidence. If children are praised and encouraged during this stage they can feel industrious and confident about their abilities. However if they are not encouraged they can feel inferior and doubt their abilities and therefore they may not reach their full potential. (McLeod, 2008) During an observation (A3) A was working with a group of 4 other children. They all worked well together, they shared ideas and cooperated with each other to complete the task. This agrees with Erikson’s theories that during this stage a child wants to do well and can share and be reasonable. At the end of the lesson the CT told A’s group to put their names up on the class reward chart for working so well together and completing the work to such a high standard. From observations it was apparent that this really pleased A, she cheered out loud and could be heard saying to another classmate how happy she was. This indicated that being given praise about her work really made A feel confident about her abilities. During a free play activity A was observed (A4) with 3 other classmates who are part of a friendship group with A, they were drawing pictures of their houses. During this activity one of the classmates said that A’s picture was not very good. A was upset by this and spoke to the CT about it; she told the CT that she was ‘rubbish’ at drawing anyway. After this A didn’t want to draw anymore and instead went and sat on her own and read a book. This observation shows that A’s peer group had an effect on her emotional wellbeing. The classmate had made A feel inferior about her work and this meant that she then doubted and lost confidence in her abilities. Bandura’s social learning theory proposes ‘that children learn by watching and imitating others. (Doherty amp; Hughes, 2009, P. 38) Observations of A demonstrate that A does copy what she observes her peers doing. During observation A4 A was watching two girls dancing, from what the CT has said the two girls are considered popular within the class and from other observations it has been noticed that A does try to make friends with them on a regula r basis. After the two girls had stopped dancing A approached them and started trying to dance exactly as they had. The two girls watched her and then clapped and said she had danced really well. After this A then danced in a similar way again. This shows that A’s social development is following Banduras theory, she has observed a behaviour and then she has reproduced it. Bandura states that there will be ‘a consequence that changes the probability the behaviour will be performed again (reinforcement and punishment). ’ (Doherty amp; Hughes, 2009, p. 39) A’s motivation for performing the dance was to win the approval of the two girls; she achieved this and therefore performed the dance again. This also links back to Erikson’s theory that peer groups play a more important role during this stage of a child’s life. The observations show that A’s social and emotional development is, as both Erikson’s and Bandura’s theories demonstrated, linked to the environment around her and the social interaction she has with people around her. How can the individual’s development and learning be extended? When compared to some child development theories the observations have shown that A’s cognitive and social development is in the normal range for her age. They have also shown however that there is room for A’s development and learning to be extended. For example, A’s confidence could be improved. The observations demonstrate that A becomes upset when she receives negative responses from her peers and teachers. A could be given praise for tasks she completes well to improve this. When A had her name put up on the classroom reward chart the observations show that A’s confidence was enriched. As these observations were all class based it is uncertain whether A has a reward system at home but it could be suggested to A’s Mother that it might benefit A to have one. Observations (A1 amp; A3) also appear to show that A has more confidence when she is working within a group; she seems to need the reinforcement of others. When A is working alone (A2) she is less confident in her abilities; this seems to be because she does not have the reassurance of others working with her. To build A’s confidence A could be praised more for her independent work than for her group work as ‘reinforcements through praise, demonstrations of approval and tangible rewards increase the frequency of desirable behaviour reoccurring. ’ (Doherty amp; Hughes, 2009, P. 06) It is useful to see that peer collaboration provides a good way for children to extend their learning, A worked well within a group especially when the group was of mixed abilities (A3). It is important to remember that sometimes, such as Vygotsky’s MKO theory shows, children can peer tutor those less able than them with great effect. The observations of A were all carried out wit h the classroom, this does mean there are certain limitations to the findings about A’s development. In order to get a more rounded picture of A’s development observations within the home would also be necessary. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory places high significance on the environment with which a child interacts, it recognises that how a child lives and is bought up are important influences on how a child develops. ‘Development should be studied in the home, schools and community where children live. ’ (Bronfenbrenner, 1979 cited in Doherty amp; Hughes, 2009, P. 43) There are many different child development theories and this case study has shown that the development of a child cannot be measured against one theory alone. All of the theorists that have been used as examples within this assignment each take a different stance on how a child develops and learns. The ideas within them overlap and in order to gain a better understanding into a child’s development it is useful to apply more than one theory to the observations. References Doherty, J. and Hughes, M. , 2009, Child Development: Theory and Practise 0-11. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd A Level Psychology. (2008). Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (online) Available at