Sunday, January 26, 2020

Human Resource Recruitment Case Study

Human Resource Recruitment Case Study Over resent decades, a number of studies have shown a positive relationship between high efficiency human resource management (HRM) policies and practices, and organisational performance (Heynes Fryer, 2000:240). HRM is therefore seemed to be the major factor to differentiate between success and failure of the organisations in todays world. This because it involves in how to manage people who work for the company, and whose roles performance as well as quality could eventually achieve organisations aims and objectives. There are many aspects in HRM, including resourcing, performance and developing, and so on (Torrington, Hall Taylor, 2008). Resourcing is one of the main factor in HRM that consist of planning, recruiting, inducting and bringing a new staff up to the standard of a fully effective worker (Dawson, 1989:28). This essay will focus on the resourcing which includes issues involve in the recruitment. It also contains the case study of Tesco regarding its resourcing strategi es which show how such aspects can help the organisations growth. The concept of HRM It is not easy to define the concept for Human Resource Management as there are two different ways to perceive: personnel management (PM) and HRM (Torrington, Hall Taylor, 2008:6). However, its overview idea is the approach to manage the people who work for the organisation and are related to the success of the business. The firms are also able to gains the competitive advantage by using its people efficiently and effectively in their skills and competencies. Human resources are different from the other resources which work for the organisation because people have thought, emotions, feelings, aspirations and needs, and they have those thing individually as well. Hence, HRM relates to the way in which the organisation interact with its people; for instance, recruiting the suitable people for right positions, providing training and development opportunities, and so on (The Time 100, 2005). The concept of resourcing Although there are many aspects in HRM, the first main activity of human resource department is to search and bring people who are needed in order for business to be successful. These people could be the employees and also people outside the company such as consultants or subcontractors. Nevertheless, no matter which type of their work the working relationship between the business and them is the employment contract which EntrepreneurÂÂ ® (2009) defines as An agreement entered into between an employer and an employee at the time the employee is hired that outlines the exact nature of their business relationship, specifically what compensation the employee will receive in exchange for specific work performed. What is more, once the organisation recruits its people, they have to be in the series of activity such as motivation, training, developing and regular feedback that could maintain or improve their performance as well as loyalty to the company (Torrington, Hall Taylor, 2008 :106). Other keys factor of resourcing process including HR planning, recruitment and selection. These are also able to provide the management to have a way to acquire new skills and improve the organisational cultures (Marchington Wilkinson, 2007:157). Recruitment External Recruitment VS Internal Promotion There are two ways for organisation to employ its new staffs whether search for the talent available on the external labour market or to invest within the company to develop existing staffs to fill in the new position (Torrington, Hall Taylor, 2008). These choices have their own advantages and disadvantages which the HR specialists have to analyse and decide before the recruitment. Internal recruitment is less expensive than external one because the company has no need to spend its revenue on the job advertisements or recruitment agencies. The organisation can also ensure that the candidates are familiar with its regulations, environment and culture. In addition, it can act as one of the motivational tools in the organisation strategies to encourage its staff performance as well. On the other hand, the drawback of home grown method is a limited number of candidates in order for the HR manager to choose and it can demotivate some failed candidates when the outside ones are chosen instead. The other type is external recruitment. Although it is more expensive, there is a wide range of candidate and this is able to provide the creation of a diverse workforce (Ibid). Outsiders might also possess specific skills, abilities or characteristics that suit the firm needs (Chen, 2005). In contrast, this way of recruitment drops the promotion opportunities of the insiders and thus adversely affects their incentives (Ibid). As there are pros and cons for both methods, the organisation should therefore consider some factors such as the economy and labour market before setting its recruitment policies. A company could also use either or both ways. However, it should be concerned with the suitable approach that fair enough for all candidates, giving sincere, honest, accuracy and helpful feedback to unsuccessful candidates as an important part of the process. E-Recruitment Since the world has become globalisation, the Internet was used increasingly for recruitment among the companies worldwide. It provides the effective channel to attract the job-seekers faster and more up-to-date than the traditional ways. There are two basis form of Internet recruitment: employers own website and cyber-agencies (Torrington, Hall Taylor, 2008). The companies which have their own website could create the career part for the candidates gain both spending less money and time to the right person. However, the agencies allocate the service that supports the HR people to concentrate on the other aspects and have a wider way to reach the candidates. Consequently, the organisation should be concerned not only use the traditional way of recruitment, but also applies the e-recruitment as a technology to support its development. Case studies Tesco, the biggest private sector employer in the UK, has employed more than 360,000 employees worldwide and it is continually growing every year (The Time 100, 2005). The way to support Tesco to handle the adequate resourcing of the suitable workforce to serve its widen market might be the efficient and effective resourcing strategies. There are three main factors in Tesco resourcing: workforce planning, attracting and recruitment, and selection. Firstly, the workforce planning is the process for analysing the company concerned with the need of workforce in terms of numbers, skills and locations. Tesco uses a workforce planning table to create the approximate demand for new staff. This table allows Tesco flexibility and sufficient time to meet its staff demands and lead the business to achieve its strategic objectives; for example, to open new stores and maintain customer service standards. Another important element is to have clear job descriptions and person specifications. Job description defines what it want people to do in this role while person specification describes the qualification of people in required position. Tesco uses both to help job applicants and post-holders to know what is expected from them. Secondly, Tesco applies both internal staff development and external recruitment methods to fill its vacancies. It is concerned about the staff motivation and uses its practises called talent planning to encourage their internal employees through an annual appraisal scheme. This could therefore lead them to apply for higher position. Furthermore, Tesco avoid the demonization among the staffs who fail the promotion as it provides the privilege such as the longer preparation time. On the other hand, for external recruitment, Tesco invest in advertises vacancies via its website or through vacancy boards in stores. The short lists have an interview followed by some processes at an assessment centre. Lastly, the selection process involves choosing the most suitable candidate from those who apply for a position by keeping the employment laws and regulations. According to figure 1, Tesco also use screening to filter candidates to ensure that those selected for interview have the best fit with the job requirements. An assessment centre is the next step for the candidates and it take place in store and is run by managers. Consequently, an interview is the last step in the process. To summarise, Tesco is an enterprise with many job opportunities from the frontline staff to high level manager. Tesco therefore needs to encourage its growth and development with the right people, skills and behaviours. It shows the organisational structures clearly, and provides obvious job descriptions and person specifications to create easy ways of applying for jobs. These could eventually lead Tesco to have its efficient approach for recruitment and selection, and support its changing demand for employee. Conclusion Tesco case study could demonstrate how resourcing helps the organisation to reach its need of staffs in the right place, with the right skills at the right time. Furthermore, it might be a useful example for another company to analyse and apply to their strategies. Recruitment topic contains the important issues comprise internal and external recruitment, and e-recruitment. These could provide the benefits and drawbacks as well as a variety of channel for recruitment. Resourcing is crucial for a business needs to meet its staff demands and match the position with the right people, and also maintain such valuable workforce. The company should analyse its structure and synergise the factors including workforce planning, recruitment and selection, and so on to set the organisation resourcing strategy. This could result in the efficient and effective resourcing as part of the human resource management.

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Melvin Udall Essay

As humans, we are all able to recognize within ourselves traits that may seemingly pertain to a myriad of psychological disorders. We often are quick to label and jest about aspects of our personalities, excusing our quirks and differences by using expressions like â€Å"I’m so OCD about that† or â€Å"she’s so bipolar sometimes. † But when we take a moment to stop and think, the way we lightly apply terms such as OCD and bipolar do not begin to encompass the reality of what these disorders mean for some. Many times we make light of somber subjects due to lack of understanding, and it is for this reason why we must strive to comprehend the immense burden behind psychological disorders. We must strive to understand that psychological disorders consume the lives of individuals just as physical illnesses do, and desist from labeling our â€Å"abnormal† personality traits with words we have no grasp upon. At this point you may be asking yourself, how one would ever understand psychological illness without experiencing it first hand? Because we do not all plan to become psychologists and psychiatrists with the opportunity to interact with clinically diagnosed patients, one of the best ways to expand one’s knowledge of psychological disorders is through film. Being able to contextually see the symptoms and life course of a psychological disorder within a film character, allows for an increase in appreciation and empathy within real life situations. As Good As it Gets, a 1997 romantic comedy directed by James Brooks offers an excellent example of a film depicting a psychological disorder.

Friday, January 10, 2020

An essay on the novel Frankenstein Essay

The novel Frankenstein is as relevant and terrifying today as it was when it was first published At the time that Mary Shelly wrote the book Frankenstein the idea of creating and bringing people back to life using electricity was a prominent idea in science. She was also reading Emile by a famous French philosopher Rousseau where he argues that mans nature is harmless but is made evil by society. These ideas help to influence her novel and contribute to the key themes. When Mary Shelly was young her mother died and this ties in with the character of Victor whose mother also dies from giving birth to his brother William, who is later murdered by the creature, (Mary Shelly also had a son called William who died at the age of 3). Mary Shelly’s first child died twelve days after she was born, she had a dream that her child had come back to life she wrote â€Å"Dream that my little baby came to life again – that it had only been cold and that we rubbed it by the fire and it lived – I awake and find no baby – I think about the little thing all day† this tragedy is reflected in Frankenstein with the idea of bringing the dead back to life. Mary Shelly’s own childhood seems to have been brought up in the character of the creature, the creature was abandoned by Victor and Mary Shelly seems to feel that her mother abandoned her because she died when Shelly was only a baby. The book Frankenstein has three different narrators though out the novel; Robert Walton, the captain of a ship heading for the North Pole. Victor Frankenstein the creator of the creature and finally the creature itself, although Victor and the creatures stories are embedded in Walton’s narrative. Mary Shelly uses Walton’s letters to his sister to tell the story from his point of view and that of Victor and the creature. The book starts with Walton writing letters to his sister. Walton then encounters Victor Frankenstein when his ship can go no further north because it is stuck in the ice; Victor Frankenstein has been traveling across the ice following the creature and is ill because of the cold. Robert Walton takes him aboard his ship where Victor Frankenstein tells him the story of creating the creature. Victor tells him about his childhood in Geneva which he spent with his cousin Elizabeth. Victor went to the University of Ingolstadt. While he was there he became obsessed with the idea of bringing people back to life. Victor thinks he has found the secret of life and puts together a human being from bits of other dead people. It was a â€Å"dreary night in November† when he finally brings the creature to life. He looks at the repulsive thing that he has created and it horrifies him. He tries to sleep but is disturbed by dreams of his mother and Elizabeth â€Å"I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms†, he wakes up to see the creature standing over him. Mary Shelly is increasing the tension and making the reader more involved. He escaped into the streets of Igolstadt and runs into his friend Clerval, who had come to study at the university. Victor takes his friend back to his apartment, but he finds that the creature is no longer there. He then becomes ill from a fever; the sickness is a sign that he has realized the horror of what he has done. Before he returns to Geneva he receives a letter from his father telling him his brother William has been murdered. Victor hurries home and when he was passing through the woods where William was murdered, he catches sight of the creature and is convinced the creature killed him, Mary Shelly is increasing the horror with each event as the story unfolds. Victor took a holiday in the mountains to try and ease his grief for his brother. While he is alone one day, crossing a glacier, the creature approaches him. The creature then tells Victor what has happened to him he describes running away from Igolstadt after he was assaulted by the towns’ people, and how he hid away in forests where he discovered fire. He discovers a small shed where he spends some time as he is sheltered from the rain; there is a small peep hole where he can look in to a family house this is where he learns to speak as there is a foreigner in the house who the family is teaching to speak their language. The creature asks Victor to create another creature for him to be his companion. Victor agrees but later after he has started he destroys the second creature so the creature tells him he will be there on Victor’s wedding night. On his return to Geneva Victor marries Elizabeth. He fears what the creature said to him and that he will kill him. To be careful he sends Elizabeth away to wait for him. While he waits for the creature, he hears Elizabeth scream and Victor realizes that the creature had been hinting at killing his new wife. Victor returns home and his father dies of sorrow shortly after. Victor says that he will devote the rest of his life to finding the creature and getting his revenge. Victor tracks the creature northwards and it becomes icy. Victor almost catches up with the creature, but the ice breaks and Victor cannot reach the creature. Victor dies shortly after he finishes telling his story. Walton then tells the remainder of the story in letters written to his sister. When Walton returns, several days later, to the room in which the body lies he is shocked to see the creature weeping over Victor. The creature tells Walton about his suffering. He then says that now his creator has died he can end his own torment. The creature then walks off for the northernmost ice to die. In chapter 5 Shelly describes how the monster comes to life and how Frankenstein has a nervous breakdown. He had spent two years working on the creature and it turned out to be an abomination in his eyes. Shelly tries to terrify the reader by using some very strong emotive words â€Å"with an anxiety that almost lead to agony†, she makes the creature look as grotesque as possible â€Å"His yellow skin barely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath† she also writes â€Å"his watery eyes, that seemed almost the same as the dun white sockets. † Victor never refers to the creature as a human; he refers to it as a â€Å"wretch†, â€Å"monster†, â€Å"creature† and â€Å"demonical corpse†, this helps to show how Victor rejects the creature as soon as he has brought it to life just because of the way it looks, this is how the creature is treated by society through out the rest of the novel, he is seen as a monster and is rejected by society. These make the creature seem repulsive and grotesque, the thoughts of this creature would have terrified readers when it was first published but I do not think that it has the same effect on readers today. Far worse things are viewed in many places for example on the internet, television or in newspapers although something which had an appearance like the creature would probably still be rejected by society today and would still be considered horrifying.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

The Importance of Context in The Crucible by Aurthur...

Context influences all texts, whether it be a novel, play or movie. It is the reader’s knowledge of the historical and cultural background influencing a text, which allows enrichment of reading and understanding that can be gained from a text. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play which is a fitting example of this statement. This is due to the multiple references Miller has made to both the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and to the McCarthy era, the period in which the play was written. Although Miller states â€Å"this play is not history†, it serves as an allegory for both time periods and it was the appreciation I had for the historical and cultural context of these time periods which enriched my understanding and reading of the play. The†¦show more content†¦They also believed that confessions of their sins saved them from themselves, a similarity with characters from The Crucible where blame placed on someone else constantly, to take guilt from ones self, Abigail began accusing others by saying: I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osborn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!(2) Accusations needing to be on anybody but her, Abigail disregards others and accuses them. The Salem Witch Trials, encouraged people to make accusations against their friends and neighbours to gain their own freedom, in scenes as the ones listed previously Miller emphasises and dramatises this idea. Another example of a Puritan theocracy is the punishment of an alternative opinion, as John Proctor yelled in The Crucible, â€Å"I say-I say God is dead!†(3) He caused uproar within the community and inevitably the end of his own life. The town felt that because John Proctor believed in something against that of the Court’s which was God’s then he must be working for the Devil and must be killed. The referencing in the play to the periods of time where similar issues of right-wing, conformed views were present was not only linked to The Puritan society but also with McCarthyism, present in the 1950’s. Arthur Miller wrote the play in the 1950’s at a time where America was undergoing strife under the anti-communist regimes of Senator Joseph McCarthy. The time was riddled with right-wing views, whirlwinds of