Thursday, November 28, 2019

Educational Reform In A Pluralistic Society Essays -

Educational Reform In A Pluralistic Society My personal philosophy of education is that every child has the right to an education. This education should be such that every student has the equal opportunity to succeed and learn at the highest level they are capable. I believe that the purpose of education is to educate people who are well-rounded individuals. By well-rounded, I am referring to graduates who will be able to apply their education to numerous aspects of life. This includes people who are going to college and people who will be entering the work force directly from high school. Every person should have a wide base of knowledge to draw from and add to throughout their life. This type of education allows those who wish to pursue a higher education to draw upon their education in a more intellectual way, and those that choose to work can draw upon their education in a more practical way. Those people who do not pursue education further will still have a knowledge base that allows them to view many aspects of life with an open mind. A second reason I believe that education should be geared toward creating well-rounded individuals is that I think this will greatly improve the state of our nation. A majority of our most productive, happy citizens are those ho have had a wide variety of experiences and have a broad knowledge base. Being able to accept many differences that occur throughout the human race occurs more readily among those with a broad educational background. When deciding what level of government should be responsible for education, I believe that the primary responsibility should rest on the federal government. The role of the federal government should be to regulate the standards of education. This should include monitoring every school in the United States of America to make sure that all students are receiving comparable education. As a result, curriculum standards should be set at a national level. The federal government should keep a establish a national council to decide the standards for each subject area. Representatives from each state would be appointed to monitor their own states progress. At the state level, state appointed committees would oversee the progress of the national curriculum. State committees should decide which textbooks will be adopted. By letting states adopt their own textbooks, this keeps some local control. On a local level, each school district would be responsible for deciding how the federal curriculum standards should be implemented. I believe that every school should strive for both excellence and equality in public education. Considering excellence as students who are working at the highest level they are capable of at the current time, and equality as an equal opportunity for each student to learn. (equality does not necessarily mean that each student learns the same information, but that they are learning under the conditions that suit them the best) One of the best ways to create an environment that combines equality and excellence is to use a system similar to Howard Gardners Multiple Intelligence Theory. This theory is an excellent example of combining excellence and equality. Equality is created because the activities and teaching methods focus on everyones strengths. An education would not be considered equal by my standards if teachers repeatedly teach in ways that certain students cannot comprehend. Examples of excellence can also be found in the multiple intelligence theory. By finding the way that each student learns, each child will be able to do their best work. When implementing these ideas, the role of the student is the most important. While teachers are extremely important to the learning process, the students ultimately have control over whether or not they learn anything. The success of equality and excellence depends upon what kind of commitment the student is willing to make to being the best student possible. After the role of the student and the teacher have been defined, I believe that education should seek to develop critical thinking skills, not supply students with a reservoir of factual data. Factual data is important, but the ability to know that the Battle of Bull was fought on July 21, 1861 is not going to help in a problem solving situation, which is one of the most important skills to have in life. I do not believe that meaningful educational reform is possible in a pluralistic, democratic society. There are too many differences among Americans to be able to decide on what educational reforms are necessary. Today,

Sunday, November 24, 2019

a doll house drama analysis Essays

a doll house drama analysis Essays a doll house drama analysis Paper a doll house drama analysis Paper Essay Topic: A Dolls House A Dolls House Drama Analysis Kshana pressley Northwest Mississippi Community College Introduction During the nineteenth century, many restrictions and limitations were place on women in society. Marital roles, social roles, and work roles were very different for women during the nineteenth century than they are today (Hartman, 1999). Henrik Isbens playwright, A Doll House, actively voices women rights many years ago. The marital life Nora Helmer is portrayed throughout the play, conveying subordination, condemnation, sacrifice, and inequality that women felt from men in the roles that hey were expected to accept and play in a very conventional society. During the 19th century, men were thought to be superior, while women as inferior beings (Barksdale, 2012). Nora Helmer The plays main character, Nora Helmer depicts women behavior during the nineteenth century. In the beginning of the play Nora seems to portray to the image of most women during her time. She is very submissive and obedient to her husband, Torvald. Nora leads a double life in the play as a sheltered wife of an attorney and an independent risk taker, At first, Nora seems happy and affectionately esponds to Torvaldss teasing. However, this is Just an act of Nora Helmer that we all later discovered. During the nineteenth century, women could not conduct business affairs and had no control over family finances (Hartman, 1999). Permission to do so was sought from the husband before doing such acts. Nora, the little featherbrain, a nickname given by her Torvald was Just the opposite of that (Isben, 1879). She defied most of the rules. She ate macaroons and lied about it to her husband. She secretly forged her fathers signature, borrowed money without her husbands ermission, and boasted about it to her friend, Mrs. Linde (Isben, 1879). She was secretly proud of the sacrifice that she had made for her husband. However, Nora perception of her husband was totally out of place. When Torvald found out about Noras secret loan, he becomes disgusted with her (Isben, 1879). She realized that her husbands devotion was false. As a result, Nora leaves behind her husband and children to find herself. During the nineteenth century, it was unheard of for women to leave their husband and children in search of a new life (Hartman, 1999). Nora defied the odds. Mrs. Christine Linde During the nineteenth century, single women had more freedom than married women. They earned their own money, despite Jobs being limited and not well paying tor women at the time (Barksdale, 2 However, they earned it and they controlled their own finances. The Jobs that women performed were described as not interesting and not very challenging. This was the case for Mrs. Linde. Perhaps, this is why Mrs. Linde felt empty inside (Isben, 1879). Also, during the nineteenth century, women were expected to play sacrificial roles. Isben portrays such a role in Ms. Lindes character. Mrs. Linde made sacrifices for her family. She married to take care of her ailing brothers and mother. This was truly a sacrifice for Ms. Linde as she married a man whom she did not love. Krogstad, her true love, abandoned so that she could take care of her family. Torvald Helmer Men were the dominant partner in the relationship during the nineteenth century. Men were superior and often shunned women (Barksdale, 2012). As mentioned earlier, the men were the breadwinners and controlled the finances. Torvald Helmers certainly portrayed this image well as he always used the word little to describe his wife. He was an overbearing husband that viewed himself as the intellectual and emotional superior in the marriage. Torvald never considered Nora as his equal in the relationship. He often treated his wife, Nora, as a child- wife (Isben, 1879. Hypocrisy is a flaw of Torvald. He claims that he devoted to Nora and tells her l will protect you like a hunted dove and that he will guide through the perils of the world (Isben, 1879). However once Nora secret is exposed, Torvald is anything but Noras hero. Nils Krogstad During the nineteenth century men had the upper hand over women (Hartman, 1999). In Isbens A Doll House, Nils Krogstad had the upper hand over Nora. He committed a crime in order to support his family. When his Job was at stake, he blackmailed Nora. He was cruel to Nora by tormenting her. It seemed as he had little regard for her as most men did for women in the nineteenth century. However, he was blackmailing Nora to secure a Job so that he could provide for his family. As mentioned before, men were the provider and Krogstad wanted to be Just that. In conclusion, Henrik Isbens A Doll House conveys the role of men and women during the nineteenth century. Women often faced subordination, condemnation, sacrifice, and inequality from society (Hartman, 1999). Mrs. Linde Job often left her feeling empty inside because the Job for women were not so challenging. Nora sacrificed herself to save her husband while Mrs. Linde sacrificed love to support her family. Torvald and Krogstad both condemn Nora for the crime of forgery. Torvald often described Nora using the term little and would never declare her his equal (Isben, 1879). Reference Page Barksdale, M. (2012). How are men and womens roles in society changing. Discovery. Retrieved from http://curiosity. discovery. com/question/gender-roles-society- changing. Hartman, D. (1999). Womens roles in the late 19th century. Lives of women. Retrieved from connerprairie. org/Learn-And-Do/Indiana-History/ America- 1860-1900/Lives-Of-Women . aspx. Ibsen, H ember) A Dolls House. trom nttp:/ dolls-house-text. lenotes. com/

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Management practices of planning, staffing, leading, organizing, and Term Paper

Management practices of planning, staffing, leading, organizing, and controlling implemented in the workplace - Term Paper Example After noting the vital aspects of each management staff, the stakeholders find it appropriate to engage the qualified personnel in running a firm. Similarly, the selected employees to manage the organization have to be experienced, motivated and focused individuals (Hannagan and Bennett, 2008). If this is not done, the stakeholders may run into losses, as the coordination of all the management processes may not be functional. In many instances, the stakeholders engage both external and internal training to equip the management with vital knowledge. Through the training, the managers also acquire ample skills to help in coordinating the management practices. In essence, the Management practices of planning, staffing, leading, organizing, and controlling in an organization are vital, as they have direct effect on the [performance of the organization. To begin with, the first management practice that has an effect on the performance of an organization is planning. Planning involves forecasting on various aspects that may affect the sustainability of the firm. First, the planning process involves forecasting on the intended expenditure of the form. Firms have to make allocations in concern to their expenditure, probably for a whole year. As such, they have to involve all the accountants and financial managers who reiterate the proposed expenditure for the firm. Secondly, the firm has to plan for the proposed expansion plans in ensuring the firm is improving its market niche (Leonard, 2013). For instance, in my previous work place, planning for investments in new markets was an approach that enhanced the market niche of the company. This is especially due to the nature of the products, which are highly needed in new markets. Since the company deals in technological appliances, finding new markets is appropriate for business sustain ability. Thirdly, the management should involve planners, especially in concern to unforeseen circumstances. At times, the unforeseen

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Exam Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Exam Skills - Essay Example If the teacher does not provide notes that are clear enough to understand, it is the student's responsibility to go and ask the teacher for clarification. Most reasonable teachers are happy to provide clarification for the student. Students must ask questions until everything is completely and one hundred percent clear. Once the student knows and understands what needs to be revised, he or she can then proceed to the next step in the process. The second part of the revision process is to go forth with the revision. The student should not rush through the process. He or she must look over the work carefully and take care to revise every mistake that is outlined. . Paying attention to detail is crucial in this step of the process because if the student misses anything, then the revision will prove to be ineffective. The third part of the revision process is to look over the work carefully another time. Just because the actual revising of the work is complete does not mean that the entire revision process is complete. To insure that the work is free of any sort of common mistakes, such as in the areas of grammar, mechanical, or spelling, it is important to run the work through a spellchecker. ... The spell checker will catch most common mistakes, making the work to be a masterpiece. While spell checkers are wonderful, innovative inventions that allow for the best results, but it will not pick up everything. Because this is the case, it is important for the student to look over the work again, being careful to spot anything that the spell checker may have missed. The student may also may want to have others look over the work to spot anything that the student his/herself did not see. Once this has been done, it is safe to say that the revision is complete. Now that the revision process is complete, it is safe to turn it into the teacher. The work will be of high quality, and the student will be able to look forward to scoring high marks on the assignment, since the student followed this revision strategy closely. The work is free of all errors. As result, the student can feel good about what he or she has accomplished. 3.1 Allocate a proportion of the time available that reflects the proportion of the total marks allocated to each question. When it comes to allocating the correct amount of time to answering questions, it is important to allocate enough time to effectively and efficiently answer each question. Doing this will insure that everything is done in a proper manner, meaning that sufficient time will be provided. This is critical, especially when doing tests or quizzes. When the proper amount of time is allocated to answering questions, everything goes well, and when the proper amount of time is not allocated, a disaster usually ensues. Allocating the proper amount of time to answer questions insures that everything will run smoothly. Properly time

Monday, November 18, 2019

Teams progress Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Teams progress - Assignment Example †¢ What were the weaknesses of your team?†¢ What were the weaknesses of your team?Lack of experience on such team managed projects was a major weakness. Although Work load was equally divided by the leader division of work was such that one member assigned to do research work was not responsible for writing task. Therefore, writing standard lacked coherence of thought. Long-term goals got forgotten to attain short term targets. Due to given time limit, team leader could not justify with the given task. †¢ What do you like best about the team experience?  The best thing about the team experience was developing an understanding of what other members thought about how to work collaboratively, innovatively and at the same time respecting each other views by listening with patience. The feeling of team-spirit was so intense that no member felt bad when his research material was found irrelevant and discarded from the final output. †¢ What do you like least about your team experience?  Online participation through the electronic media via computers was the least satisfactory strategy in comparison to offline participation at the campus library and other designated places. It did not help in resolving the issues faced by members as the target was only on providing an update on current status. Members had to wait until the next face-to-face meeting to resolve issues, which caused a delay in timely submission. My experiences of the joint project have enlightened me on how to bring performance and excellence in the final output by changing my behavior and attitude.  

Friday, November 15, 2019

Analysis of Employee Turnover at McDonalds

Analysis of Employee Turnover at McDonalds 1.1 Introduction In a perfect world it would be best for any organization to have employees who love their jobs, enjoy working with their co-workers, are happy with the salary, willing to work hard for their managers and never leave the organization. However, in the real world employees do leave either because they want more money, hate the work environment, hate their co-workers, want a change or because their spouse gets a dream job in another state (Sharma, 2008). Many organizations nowadays face ‘high attrition rate or turnover mainly due to a highly competitive market. Staff attrition or turnover has been cited as one of the primary concerns facing organizations and businesses in any industry. Staff attrition or turnover relates to those who leave an organization due to resignation, termination and retirement. According to the latest CIPD survey (CIPD, 2007), the annual employee turnover rate in the UK was at 18.1 percent. The report also found that the annual turnover levels differed cons iderably from one industry to the other industry, with the highest average rates being 22.6 percent and these were found in private sector organizations and, within this sector, the hotels, catering and leisure industry reports rates of turnover at 10 percent higher than the average for the sector of 32.6 percent. High turnover rates creates particular pressures for the HR department, which is primarily responsible for replacing those who leave, but also for line managers who face disruption to production and service standards. This is the necessary result of having to induct new employees, who are usually less experienced and productive compared to those whom they replace. It takes some time for the new recruits to perform at their optimum levels. This results in the organization failing to meet its objectives, reduction in productivity and higher costs. It is therefore important for HR managers to measure staff attrition, monitor its impact and take appropriate action to minimize its effects(BanfieldKay,2008). Globalization has led to the rapid expansion of multinational fast food companies e.g. McDonalds and KFC. Even at this present time of global economic recession, these fast food companies are growing and generating profits. The customers, who were eating out at a high profile restaurant, are now looking for something reasonable and affordable. McDonalds is offering good hygienic food at a reasonable price to these customers and are benefitting from this global economic downturn. This has lead to a fierce competition between these fast food companies and each of them is trying to give the best quality product and service to its customers. In a company like McDonalds, giving a quick and high quality customer service is essential for its success. However many of the McDonalds restaurants are experiencing high employee turnover which could affect the overall productivity and profitability of the respective McDonalds restaurants. One of the senior executives at McDonalds put the chains an nual employee turnover at nearly 44 percent. According to the chief human resource officer of McDonalds Mr. Floersch the managerial turnover was at 20% globally while that of the crew members averaged between 80 percent and 90 percent. This however, varied from country to country (The Wall Street Journal, 2008). In this research, the researcher would like to investigate the main reasons for experienced employees leaving the organization i.e. McDonalds and what sort of challenges the managers face due to the high turnover. The researcher would also like to find out any retention strategies adopted by the HR department to curb the high turnover rate. For this, the researcher decided to choose few selected restaurants in London. 1.2 The Overall Aim The researchers main aim in this study is to find out the main reasons for high employee turnover at McDonalds, the way it affects the managers and the organization, and steps taken to retain employees. 1.3 Research Objectives The researcher in this research would like to find out the main reasons for having high turnover rate in McDonalds and the challenges that the managers face and also how they can curb the rate of staff turnover.The researcher also intends to study the following: To find out the main causes of high employee turnover To find out the various retention strategies adopted by McDonalds in order to retain employees. To find out the various challenges faced by managers due to employee turnover. Chapter2 2.0 Background-Company Overview McDonalds has 31,000 restaurants in 116 countries and is one of the biggest family restaurants in the world. The first restaurant in UK was opened during 1974 in Woolwich High Street and the first franchised restaurant opened in 1986. In UK there are now 1,190 restaurants employing more than 70,000 people, of which 51% is operated by franchisees. McDonalds main vision is to give the family the best experience, something that they will never forget and would want to come back to. They achieve this through its people they employ. McDonalds realizes that its employees can only perform well when they are given the right working environment and for this, they strive to provide various rewards and benefits which would suit each and every individual working in the organization. McDonalds is one of the largest global brands and it offers a culture of flexibility, opportunity, equality and diversity. It has one of the most diverse cultures within the UK (McDonalds, 2009). 2.1 Recruitment at McDonalds McDonalds policy is to hire those ‘Crew Members who can bring a smile to the workplace. This brings in positive energy and creates a good friendly atmosphere. The recruitment procedure for a ‘Crew Member is a two-step process. First the applicant needs to apply online and if successful, the second step will be to invite the candidate to a restaurant for On job evaluation (OJE) and interview. The on job evaluation helps evaluate the candidates customer service skills and his ability to keep up with the high energy environment. This will last for 15 minutes after which the candidate will be interviewed by the Business Manager for another 15 minutes. Once the crew members are hired, they will attend a welcome meeting which will be conducted at their chosen restaurant or the recruitment centre. The welcome meeting involves viewing a DVD which gives important information about the company and also gives the manager an opportunity to interact with the new recruits. They also at tend a compulsory online Health safety and Food safety test when they start working (McDonalds,2009). McDonalds also recruit ‘Trainee Business Managers who need to display some strong leadership skills. In this, McDonalds makes sure that the candidate is right for the job. A candidate applying for this position has to go through four-step selection process. The first stage is the initial screening process, this helps in ensuring that the candidate meets the basic criteria for selection. If successful, the next step is an online personality questionnaire that the candidate will have to complete. This ensures if the candidate has the desired attributes to be working in McDonalds environment. The next step is a restaurant based ‘On Job Evaluation or OJE. In this the candidate works for the entire day in order to find out what its really like to work in a McDonalds restaurant. The final step of the process is an interview with the Senior Manager of the restaurant (McDonalds,2009). 2.2 Training in McDonalds McDonalds success depends on its well trained crew and managers who maintain company standards of providing high quality, good service and cleanliness at each of its restaurants. McDonalds has a company policy to provide career opportunities that will allow employees to grow and meet their full potential. They have included career development programmes for crew and operations management which will allow them to progress to a senior management position. The company believes in promoting people on their merit. The crew members are trained by the Crew Trainers and they learn the skills necessary to run each of the workstations in the restaurant, from the front counter to the grill area. They are also trained on how to take deliveries and store the frozen food into the chiller, this is then further used in cooking and making the necessary burgers. Major part of this training is floor based and this helps the crew members learn faster and are also able to retain the information provided. After the initial training period the crew members are monitored by the use of ‘observation check lists (OCRs) on an ongoing basis. The observation checklist is a score sheet that marks all aspects of work in the restaurant. The ratings derived from these checklists goes towards their performance appraisal. The restaurants do promote the good performers to management positions where they will have the responsibility to runs shifts within the restaurant. For this, training is given to crew members in areas such as Customer Care, First Aid, Taste of Quality and Food Restaurant Safety. On successful completion of the management entrance exam, the employees will attend a training course provided by the Training Department before they start working in management position (McDonalds, 2009). 2.3 Retention Strategies of McDonalds McDonalds provides high levels of training to its employees working in various positions at the restaurants. This helps in reducing staff turnover and lowers the turnover costs. Employees that perform well are given recognition by awarding them with ‘Employee of the month. It provides medical insurance and offers health care. McDonalds now gives quarterly bonus to its crew and managers instead of yearly bonus, this was a step taken towards motivating its employees. The organization gives five weeks holiday per annum and they are going to increase that to six weeks from April 2009. Computerized English language classes are conducted; this can be enjoyed by the crew members between shifts (The Wall Street Journal, 2008). In 2009, McDonalds aims to provide Apprenticeships to up to 6000 of its 72,000 UK workforce and later will be increased to 10,000 from 2010. This will give the staff an opportunity to gain valuable and nationally recognized qualification that is equivalent to fiv e GCSE grade A*-C. McDonalds senses the importance of investing in their staff says the Senior Vice President David Fairhurst of McDonalds UK. This has been done purely to retain the existing staff and also to attract new ones towards working for McDonalds, which, is a global brand name (McDonalds Latest News, 2009). Chapter3 3.0LiteratureReview This section of the study points out the various theories that are relevant to the topic chosen. It starts with the HR and then focuses on employee turnover and the impact it has on the organization. It also speaks about the various ways an organization can adopt to reduce the employee turnover. 3.1Human Resource Management Human resource management (HRM) is a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organizations most valued assets. The people working in HRM put individual efforts and also work together collectively in order to achieve its objectives. Their main goal is to help the organization achieve their goals and targets through people. HRM is concerned with choosing human capital that meets the organizations requirements and to develop their capabilities so that the work is done effectively (Armstrong, 2006). Recently there has been a growing importance of HRM; this is due to the fierce competition from overseas economies. In the twenty-first century if an organization wants to have a competitive advantage, it would have to effectively manage the organizations human resource. This would also enable the organization to maintain high performance consistently over a long term. In todays market the managers recognize the growing importance of recruiting, selecting, training and develop ing, rewarding and compensation the employees. However, individuals that work with human resource matters face a multitude of challenges such as the ever constant changing workforce, the government regulations and technological revolution. Furthermore, globalization has made organizations of all sizes to think about cutting costs and improving productivity (Mondy, 2008). It is therefore, important that the HRM and the other departments within the organization work closely together in order to achieve the organizational goals and objectives and to compete locally and internationally (Sims,2002). 3.2 Human Resource Development (HRD) Human Resource Development is a title which represents the latest evolutionary stage in the long tradition of training, educating, and developing people for the purpose of contributing towards the achievement of individual, organizational and societal objectives (Wilson,2005).The fundamental aim of strategic HRD is to enhance resource capability in accordance with the belief that the human capital of an organization is a major source of competitive advantage. It is therefore about ensuring that the right quality people are available to meet present and future needs. HRD policies are closely associated with that aspect of HRM that is concerned with investing in people and developing the organizations human capital. Human Resource Development is important for organizations because it is the people whose innovative ideas, their quality at work and their hunger for continuous improvement that is needed in order to compete in todays modern and high competitive business world and these won t come from machines (Swart et al, 2005). The development of human resource will always be an ongoing process and a vital ingredient for the success of an organization. 3.3 Employee Turnover Employee attrition or turnover can be explained as the number of people who leave employment over a specified period due to retirement, death, redundancy, dismissal, transfer or resignation (Secord, 2003). According to Muller-Camen et al (2008) turnover is the number of people who leave the organization at a given time period. Most organizations would like to reduce their turnover rates, especially when it comes to the good performers who have benefitted from the companies training programs. Some organizations measure their turnover rates on a monthly basis, whereas some do it on a yearly basis. A limited amount turnover is positive for organizations as a poor performer could be replaced by a more productive one. Also, it creates an opportunity for promotion or career development when an experienced staff leaves an organization. However, high turnover could affect the quality of product and service that is offered to the customers (Baum, 2006) e.g. in case of McDonalds if an experien ced staff leaves and a new staff is recruited in the kitchen section, the quality of making the burgers will be affected. It is important for any organization to stem the staff attrition rate as finding a replacement could incur heavy costs for the organization. Some of these costs include recruitment, administration and selection costs. The managers will have to recruit new employees which will incur cost to the organization and also to cover up for the loss, the other employees working in the department would be under pressure to meet the company targets. In a highly competitive market this needs to be avoided by the managers. In order to avoid high attrition rate, it is essential for HR managers to try and retain its existing employees. 3.4 Cause of Employee Turnover There are various employee turnover causes. For example, one of the biggest employee turnover causes is an ill tempered manager. Employees dont like to work with those managers who are always being negative to them, shouting at them and blaming them for something which wasnt their fault. The employees dont want to work for a manager who is not well organized in his work. Employees find it extremely difficult to work with managers who have attitude and are not easily approachable when they face problems, such managers often find it difficult to retain their staff. Sometimes managers in order to maximize profits for the organization try to cut costs by making an employee work more so that they dont have to recruit another staff. Another main cause of employee turnover is less pay to the employees. Many employees leave an organization due to not being paid enough by the management. Employees want that they are respected for their efforts in form of good pay and good benefits. It is ther efore important for organizations to treat their employees as human beings and respect their feelings and opinions. When an employee feels that they are not being looked after by their employer, they get affected mentally as frustration creeps in and this forces them to leave the organization. Also, less pay and no benefits results in lack of motivation and job satisfaction. Another reason that causes employee turnover is an employee interaction with other employees. If an employee is not comfortable with their co-workers they often tend to leave the organization. They dont really get along with the workplace and this affects their performance and productivity. Employee turnover also occurs when they are not rewarded for their hard work. If an employee performs really well at work, he/she expects that the employer would recognize the efforts put in. However, this does not happen often to the employee (Employee Turnover Calculator Blog, 2008). 3.5 Types of Employee Turnover There are two types of turnover: Voluntary and Involuntary. Voluntary turnover is sub-divided into avoidable and unavoidable turnover. Avoidable turnover is that which an organization can prevent from occurring such as increasing the employee pay or by giving him new job assignment. Unavoidable turnover is when an employee quits and the organization could not have prevented, such as people withdrawing through retirement or returning back to school or university. Other examples of unavoidable turnover is when an employee quits in pursuit of a new career, health problems which forces an employee to take up a different type of job or perhapswhenanemployeeleavesthecountry. Involuntary turnover can be split into discharge and downsizing types. Discharge turnover occurs when an individual has been asked to leave the organization. This could be due to job performance problems wherein an employee does not perform well over a period of time even after adequate training is given to the employe e or could be for not being discipline at work e.g. coming late at work or misbehaving with colleagues. Downsizing turnover is targeted at a group of employees by an organization, it occurs as a part of organizational restructuring or cost-reduction program to improve organizational effectiveness and increase shareholder value. This reduction could be permanent or temporary due to a plant or site closing or relocation. The reduction in workforce also occurs at the time or mergers and acquisitions (Heneman Judge, 2006). 3.6 Cost as aresult of Employee Turnover The most important factor of high employee turnover that affects any organization is the cost. These costs can further be divided into the recruitment costs, training costs, lost productivity costs, new hire costs and lost sales costs (Pilbeam Corbridge, 2006). Recruitment costs are usually in the form of advertisements. The organization also incurs cost as they have to pay the recruitment agency, and also for posting advertisements on the internet. The training costs include cost of departmental training, cost of the person(s) who conduct the training and cost of various training materials. There are lost productivity costs as the new trained employee would only contribute at 25% productivity level for the first 2-4 weeks and cost of mistakes the new employee makes during his induction period. The new hire costs include putting the person on the payroll, establish computer and security passwords and identification cards, telephone hookups and cost of establishing email accounts. Th e lost sales costs or lost revenue which is calculated by multiplying the number of weeks the position is vacant by the averageweeklyrevenueperemployee.Despite the costs of high employee turnover being so significant it is overlooked and rarely calculated. Few organizations, 7 per cent of those surveyed, calculate the more extensive costs of turnover (CIPD, 2004a). When these organizations were asked why they dont calculate these costs, over half of them gave the reason that the organization did not require the information, while a third stated that calculating the various costs was just too time consumingforthem. According to Risher Stopper (2002) for an organization cost of replacement can sometimes account to around 2.5 times the annual salary of an existing employee. Such costs are rarely identified by the accounting department of an organization. Therefore, in order to avoid such turnover costs, organizations must form a successful retention strategy overtime. 3.7 Customer Satisfaction and Customer Retention According to Hill (2006) recently many organizations whether it be a small one or a large one, they have increasingly come to understand that it is important for them to maintain customer satisfaction. Nowadays the organizations have realized the fact that retaining existing customers is easier and less costly than finding some new ones. Todays businesses are so competitive that in order to gain or win new customers, organizations have to invest a lot of money. Organizations have started to realize that there is a strong link between customer satisfaction, customer retention and profitability. For many organizations in the hospitality and service industry customer satisfaction will be the topmost priority in order to be successful. Meeting the various needs of the customers and satisfying them has become the key operational goal for many organizations. Customers would only be satisfied when the organizations product or service is good enough to meet their requirements and therefore t his needs to be measured by the organization. In the words of Argenti (2002) in order to measure the overall success of any given product or service one needs to find out how often do the customers buy that same product or service. A customer buying the same product repeatedly would mean that he/she is satisfied with that product. If one can put it in simple terms, a company can make regular profits if customers show a long term commitment to their product or service. The reason why organizations can make profits from long-term and loyal customers is because they dont have to invest huge sums in attracting the new customers through the means of advertisements and promotions. Therefore, if a company after acquiring a new customer manages to keep them in the long-run, its investment on acquiring will pay off. E.g. If McDonalds want to stay competitive in the fast food industry it needs to make sure that their customers are always satisfied with the food and also the customer service. This is essential for retaining customers and would also add value to the company,thereby increasing the company profits. 3.8 Employee Retention Retention includes all those activities that an employer does to encourage qualified and highly-skilled and productive employees to continue working for the organization (Jackson et al, 2009). Staff retention is about attracting and keeping good-quality employees, while accepting that some of them will leave the organization. However, the managers should ensure that when these employees leave, it wont affect the organizations productivity to a large extent (Bloisi, 2007). Retaining a productive employee is of considerable importance to the companys HR professional. The CIPD (2004) report intro HR trends and indicators reported that 31.7 percent of employers face difficulty with retaining its employees. Large organizations find it even moredifficulttoretaintheirworkers.According to Browell (2003) an organization can benefit a lot from retaining the existing staff, some of them include: reduction in recruitment costs and selection and training of new staff, it keeps skills and knowledg e within the organization, helps improve performance, productivity and profitability, it helps in building customer loyalty and satisfaction, and lastly, it could help increase the sales volume of the organization thereby making them competitive in the market. Organizations should consider the following elements which would help in retaining employees: Job previews employees should be given a more realistic job preview when they are being recruited. Care should be taken not to give them high expectations that cannot be met. Improve management style one of the main reasons employees leave the organization is due to dissatisfaction with their managers. Organizations that would like to improve retention should take measures to improve their managers people management skills. Career development and Progression organizations should give their employees ample of opportunities to develop their skills. This can be done by introducing mentoring scheme, encouraging multi-skilling, improving career development opportunities and investing in succession planning (CIPD, 2008). Flexibility organizations should be flexible towards employees working hours and times. If employees are forced to work hours which is not convenient for them, they will look for jobs elsewhere. Treat people equally and fairly to improve retention organizations should make sure not to discriminate against employees. If they are unfair towards them it will result in voluntary resignations. Every employee that belongs to a team should be treated equally by the managers. Improve pay and benefits Many employees leave due to less pay and no benefits. A simple pay rise could be a useful strategy for organizations to retain their employees. Organizations should make sure that they match the market rates or better it when it comes to good performingemployees (Muller-Camenetal, 2008). 3.9 Recruitment In todays global competitive market organizations are under constant pressure to perform well and stay competitive and in order to achieve that, they need to recruit the right people for the right job. Recruitment is a very costly process as a lot of resources go into it. If the organization recruits wrong people it could cost to the organization huge sums and also loss of valuable time. Therefore it is important for the recruitment process to be fair, reliable and valid (Armstrong, 2001). According to Bratton and Gold (2003) an organization should setup such a recruitment process, which will help in generating a pool of talented and skilled workers who are capable for employment in an organization. Recruitment involves searching and hiring qualified people for the organization and consider them when filling job openings. The recruitment process should be consistent, taking into consideration the organizations strategy, vision and values. There are different sources an organization can use for recruiting: the first being the internal labor market and this could be the companys current employees. A good way for recruiting employees from within is through posting announcements in a company newsletter. According to the CIPD recruitment survey (2004a) 84 percent of UK organizations surveyed looked for applicants from within the organization. They did so by using internal email or intranet (69 percent), notice and bulletin boards (68 percent), team meetings (18 percent), staff newsletter or magazines (14 percent), and by memos, circulars and approaching directly. The second source would be the external labor market and this could be reached via electronic media and also referrals from current employees (Jackson et al, 2009). However, the success rate of these sources is not equal and may vary e.g. employee referrals may yield better quality applicants than through newspaperadvertisements. It is important for any organization to monitor its recruitment process as this will help reduce the talented and knowledgeable employees from leaving the organization. For any organization the recruitment process is the very first stage of retention. It is therefore important for an organization to monitor the recruitment practice as it will help in finding the right candidate for the job. In the long term this will also help the organization to reduce the turnover levels. 3.10 Training The primary reason that organizations train their new employees is to increase the level of the knowledge, skills and abilities that they possess. It can be used as one of the ways to retain its existing employees, as training will give them an opportunity to develop new skills and gain knowledge. The amount of training given to the employees has a positive influence on the organizations revenue and overall profitability. Managers should therefore keep a watchful eye on the organizations goals and strategies while conducting training programmes (Snell Bohlander, 2007). Training is also described as a planned process which enables to change the attitudes of people; it helps a person to gain some knowledge and develop the skills through various activities which helps the person to achieve effective performance. Training an employee at work is important as the employee will be able to meet the requirements of the organization in the present and in the future (Beardwell et al 2004). Tra ining is the systematic process of altering the behavior of employees in a direction that will achieve organizational goals. Training is related to present job skills and abilities. It has a current orientation and helps employees master specific skills and abilities needed to be successful (Ivancevich,2007). There are two generally accepted methods of training: one of them is called on-the-job training and the other is called off-the-job training. On-the-job training is probably the most widely used method of training and it usually takes place at the workplace. Off-the-job training usually takes place in a location which is outside of the workplace and is normally more expensive than the on-the-job training (Mullins,2005). In on-the-job training an experience worker trains the newly recruited employee. E.g. in McDonalds trainees acquire skills such as running a machine, making of a burger by observing the experienced worker. OJT is also used for top level management, there are â⠂¬Ëœassistants who train and develop the future managers. Some other forms of OJT include apprenticeships and self-directed learning. The advantage of OJT is that it can be customized according to the experiences and abilities of the trainees. Off-the-job training provides group based learning opportunities which is conducted at a site which is away from the workplace. Off-the-job training is conducted in an off-site training classroom close to the workplace or in a corporate or private facility. Off-the-job training is usually expensive as it requires a lot of travelling and maybe used by large organizations. Training classrooms, vestibule training setups and specially constructed training laboratories are some of the sites used for off-the-jobtraining(Jacobs,2003). In an organization training could also be used to change the culture within the organization. It can be used as an important tool by the organization to improve the overall effectiveness, especially in todays world where the marketis highly competitive. An organization can take up two approaches on training: a systematic training and just-in-time training. In a systematic approach, training must be designed, planned and then implemented appropriately in order to meet the needs of the organization. The training is given by those people who know exactly how to train the employees. Once the training has been provided, it is carefully monitored in order to Analysis of Employee Turnover at McDonalds Analysis of Employee Turnover at McDonalds 1.1 Introduction In a perfect world it would be best for any organization to have employees who love their jobs, enjoy working with their co-workers, are happy with the salary, willing to work hard for their managers and never leave the organization. However, in the real world employees do leave either because they want more money, hate the work environment, hate their co-workers, want a change or because their spouse gets a dream job in another state (Sharma, 2008). Many organizations nowadays face ‘high attrition rate or turnover mainly due to a highly competitive market. Staff attrition or turnover has been cited as one of the primary concerns facing organizations and businesses in any industry. Staff attrition or turnover relates to those who leave an organization due to resignation, termination and retirement. According to the latest CIPD survey (CIPD, 2007), the annual employee turnover rate in the UK was at 18.1 percent. The report also found that the annual turnover levels differed cons iderably from one industry to the other industry, with the highest average rates being 22.6 percent and these were found in private sector organizations and, within this sector, the hotels, catering and leisure industry reports rates of turnover at 10 percent higher than the average for the sector of 32.6 percent. High turnover rates creates particular pressures for the HR department, which is primarily responsible for replacing those who leave, but also for line managers who face disruption to production and service standards. This is the necessary result of having to induct new employees, who are usually less experienced and productive compared to those whom they replace. It takes some time for the new recruits to perform at their optimum levels. This results in the organization failing to meet its objectives, reduction in productivity and higher costs. It is therefore important for HR managers to measure staff attrition, monitor its impact and take appropriate action to minimize its effects(BanfieldKay,2008). Globalization has led to the rapid expansion of multinational fast food companies e.g. McDonalds and KFC. Even at this present time of global economic recession, these fast food companies are growing and generating profits. The customers, who were eating out at a high profile restaurant, are now looking for something reasonable and affordable. McDonalds is offering good hygienic food at a reasonable price to these customers and are benefitting from this global economic downturn. This has lead to a fierce competition between these fast food companies and each of them is trying to give the best quality product and service to its customers. In a company like McDonalds, giving a quick and high quality customer service is essential for its success. However many of the McDonalds restaurants are experiencing high employee turnover which could affect the overall productivity and profitability of the respective McDonalds restaurants. One of the senior executives at McDonalds put the chains an nual employee turnover at nearly 44 percent. According to the chief human resource officer of McDonalds Mr. Floersch the managerial turnover was at 20% globally while that of the crew members averaged between 80 percent and 90 percent. This however, varied from country to country (The Wall Street Journal, 2008). In this research, the researcher would like to investigate the main reasons for experienced employees leaving the organization i.e. McDonalds and what sort of challenges the managers face due to the high turnover. The researcher would also like to find out any retention strategies adopted by the HR department to curb the high turnover rate. For this, the researcher decided to choose few selected restaurants in London. 1.2 The Overall Aim The researchers main aim in this study is to find out the main reasons for high employee turnover at McDonalds, the way it affects the managers and the organization, and steps taken to retain employees. 1.3 Research Objectives The researcher in this research would like to find out the main reasons for having high turnover rate in McDonalds and the challenges that the managers face and also how they can curb the rate of staff turnover.The researcher also intends to study the following: To find out the main causes of high employee turnover To find out the various retention strategies adopted by McDonalds in order to retain employees. To find out the various challenges faced by managers due to employee turnover. Chapter2 2.0 Background-Company Overview McDonalds has 31,000 restaurants in 116 countries and is one of the biggest family restaurants in the world. The first restaurant in UK was opened during 1974 in Woolwich High Street and the first franchised restaurant opened in 1986. In UK there are now 1,190 restaurants employing more than 70,000 people, of which 51% is operated by franchisees. McDonalds main vision is to give the family the best experience, something that they will never forget and would want to come back to. They achieve this through its people they employ. McDonalds realizes that its employees can only perform well when they are given the right working environment and for this, they strive to provide various rewards and benefits which would suit each and every individual working in the organization. McDonalds is one of the largest global brands and it offers a culture of flexibility, opportunity, equality and diversity. It has one of the most diverse cultures within the UK (McDonalds, 2009). 2.1 Recruitment at McDonalds McDonalds policy is to hire those ‘Crew Members who can bring a smile to the workplace. This brings in positive energy and creates a good friendly atmosphere. The recruitment procedure for a ‘Crew Member is a two-step process. First the applicant needs to apply online and if successful, the second step will be to invite the candidate to a restaurant for On job evaluation (OJE) and interview. The on job evaluation helps evaluate the candidates customer service skills and his ability to keep up with the high energy environment. This will last for 15 minutes after which the candidate will be interviewed by the Business Manager for another 15 minutes. Once the crew members are hired, they will attend a welcome meeting which will be conducted at their chosen restaurant or the recruitment centre. The welcome meeting involves viewing a DVD which gives important information about the company and also gives the manager an opportunity to interact with the new recruits. They also at tend a compulsory online Health safety and Food safety test when they start working (McDonalds,2009). McDonalds also recruit ‘Trainee Business Managers who need to display some strong leadership skills. In this, McDonalds makes sure that the candidate is right for the job. A candidate applying for this position has to go through four-step selection process. The first stage is the initial screening process, this helps in ensuring that the candidate meets the basic criteria for selection. If successful, the next step is an online personality questionnaire that the candidate will have to complete. This ensures if the candidate has the desired attributes to be working in McDonalds environment. The next step is a restaurant based ‘On Job Evaluation or OJE. In this the candidate works for the entire day in order to find out what its really like to work in a McDonalds restaurant. The final step of the process is an interview with the Senior Manager of the restaurant (McDonalds,2009). 2.2 Training in McDonalds McDonalds success depends on its well trained crew and managers who maintain company standards of providing high quality, good service and cleanliness at each of its restaurants. McDonalds has a company policy to provide career opportunities that will allow employees to grow and meet their full potential. They have included career development programmes for crew and operations management which will allow them to progress to a senior management position. The company believes in promoting people on their merit. The crew members are trained by the Crew Trainers and they learn the skills necessary to run each of the workstations in the restaurant, from the front counter to the grill area. They are also trained on how to take deliveries and store the frozen food into the chiller, this is then further used in cooking and making the necessary burgers. Major part of this training is floor based and this helps the crew members learn faster and are also able to retain the information provided. After the initial training period the crew members are monitored by the use of ‘observation check lists (OCRs) on an ongoing basis. The observation checklist is a score sheet that marks all aspects of work in the restaurant. The ratings derived from these checklists goes towards their performance appraisal. The restaurants do promote the good performers to management positions where they will have the responsibility to runs shifts within the restaurant. For this, training is given to crew members in areas such as Customer Care, First Aid, Taste of Quality and Food Restaurant Safety. On successful completion of the management entrance exam, the employees will attend a training course provided by the Training Department before they start working in management position (McDonalds, 2009). 2.3 Retention Strategies of McDonalds McDonalds provides high levels of training to its employees working in various positions at the restaurants. This helps in reducing staff turnover and lowers the turnover costs. Employees that perform well are given recognition by awarding them with ‘Employee of the month. It provides medical insurance and offers health care. McDonalds now gives quarterly bonus to its crew and managers instead of yearly bonus, this was a step taken towards motivating its employees. The organization gives five weeks holiday per annum and they are going to increase that to six weeks from April 2009. Computerized English language classes are conducted; this can be enjoyed by the crew members between shifts (The Wall Street Journal, 2008). In 2009, McDonalds aims to provide Apprenticeships to up to 6000 of its 72,000 UK workforce and later will be increased to 10,000 from 2010. This will give the staff an opportunity to gain valuable and nationally recognized qualification that is equivalent to fiv e GCSE grade A*-C. McDonalds senses the importance of investing in their staff says the Senior Vice President David Fairhurst of McDonalds UK. This has been done purely to retain the existing staff and also to attract new ones towards working for McDonalds, which, is a global brand name (McDonalds Latest News, 2009). Chapter3 3.0LiteratureReview This section of the study points out the various theories that are relevant to the topic chosen. It starts with the HR and then focuses on employee turnover and the impact it has on the organization. It also speaks about the various ways an organization can adopt to reduce the employee turnover. 3.1Human Resource Management Human resource management (HRM) is a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organizations most valued assets. The people working in HRM put individual efforts and also work together collectively in order to achieve its objectives. Their main goal is to help the organization achieve their goals and targets through people. HRM is concerned with choosing human capital that meets the organizations requirements and to develop their capabilities so that the work is done effectively (Armstrong, 2006). Recently there has been a growing importance of HRM; this is due to the fierce competition from overseas economies. In the twenty-first century if an organization wants to have a competitive advantage, it would have to effectively manage the organizations human resource. This would also enable the organization to maintain high performance consistently over a long term. In todays market the managers recognize the growing importance of recruiting, selecting, training and develop ing, rewarding and compensation the employees. However, individuals that work with human resource matters face a multitude of challenges such as the ever constant changing workforce, the government regulations and technological revolution. Furthermore, globalization has made organizations of all sizes to think about cutting costs and improving productivity (Mondy, 2008). It is therefore, important that the HRM and the other departments within the organization work closely together in order to achieve the organizational goals and objectives and to compete locally and internationally (Sims,2002). 3.2 Human Resource Development (HRD) Human Resource Development is a title which represents the latest evolutionary stage in the long tradition of training, educating, and developing people for the purpose of contributing towards the achievement of individual, organizational and societal objectives (Wilson,2005).The fundamental aim of strategic HRD is to enhance resource capability in accordance with the belief that the human capital of an organization is a major source of competitive advantage. It is therefore about ensuring that the right quality people are available to meet present and future needs. HRD policies are closely associated with that aspect of HRM that is concerned with investing in people and developing the organizations human capital. Human Resource Development is important for organizations because it is the people whose innovative ideas, their quality at work and their hunger for continuous improvement that is needed in order to compete in todays modern and high competitive business world and these won t come from machines (Swart et al, 2005). The development of human resource will always be an ongoing process and a vital ingredient for the success of an organization. 3.3 Employee Turnover Employee attrition or turnover can be explained as the number of people who leave employment over a specified period due to retirement, death, redundancy, dismissal, transfer or resignation (Secord, 2003). According to Muller-Camen et al (2008) turnover is the number of people who leave the organization at a given time period. Most organizations would like to reduce their turnover rates, especially when it comes to the good performers who have benefitted from the companies training programs. Some organizations measure their turnover rates on a monthly basis, whereas some do it on a yearly basis. A limited amount turnover is positive for organizations as a poor performer could be replaced by a more productive one. Also, it creates an opportunity for promotion or career development when an experienced staff leaves an organization. However, high turnover could affect the quality of product and service that is offered to the customers (Baum, 2006) e.g. in case of McDonalds if an experien ced staff leaves and a new staff is recruited in the kitchen section, the quality of making the burgers will be affected. It is important for any organization to stem the staff attrition rate as finding a replacement could incur heavy costs for the organization. Some of these costs include recruitment, administration and selection costs. The managers will have to recruit new employees which will incur cost to the organization and also to cover up for the loss, the other employees working in the department would be under pressure to meet the company targets. In a highly competitive market this needs to be avoided by the managers. In order to avoid high attrition rate, it is essential for HR managers to try and retain its existing employees. 3.4 Cause of Employee Turnover There are various employee turnover causes. For example, one of the biggest employee turnover causes is an ill tempered manager. Employees dont like to work with those managers who are always being negative to them, shouting at them and blaming them for something which wasnt their fault. The employees dont want to work for a manager who is not well organized in his work. Employees find it extremely difficult to work with managers who have attitude and are not easily approachable when they face problems, such managers often find it difficult to retain their staff. Sometimes managers in order to maximize profits for the organization try to cut costs by making an employee work more so that they dont have to recruit another staff. Another main cause of employee turnover is less pay to the employees. Many employees leave an organization due to not being paid enough by the management. Employees want that they are respected for their efforts in form of good pay and good benefits. It is ther efore important for organizations to treat their employees as human beings and respect their feelings and opinions. When an employee feels that they are not being looked after by their employer, they get affected mentally as frustration creeps in and this forces them to leave the organization. Also, less pay and no benefits results in lack of motivation and job satisfaction. Another reason that causes employee turnover is an employee interaction with other employees. If an employee is not comfortable with their co-workers they often tend to leave the organization. They dont really get along with the workplace and this affects their performance and productivity. Employee turnover also occurs when they are not rewarded for their hard work. If an employee performs really well at work, he/she expects that the employer would recognize the efforts put in. However, this does not happen often to the employee (Employee Turnover Calculator Blog, 2008). 3.5 Types of Employee Turnover There are two types of turnover: Voluntary and Involuntary. Voluntary turnover is sub-divided into avoidable and unavoidable turnover. Avoidable turnover is that which an organization can prevent from occurring such as increasing the employee pay or by giving him new job assignment. Unavoidable turnover is when an employee quits and the organization could not have prevented, such as people withdrawing through retirement or returning back to school or university. Other examples of unavoidable turnover is when an employee quits in pursuit of a new career, health problems which forces an employee to take up a different type of job or perhapswhenanemployeeleavesthecountry. Involuntary turnover can be split into discharge and downsizing types. Discharge turnover occurs when an individual has been asked to leave the organization. This could be due to job performance problems wherein an employee does not perform well over a period of time even after adequate training is given to the employe e or could be for not being discipline at work e.g. coming late at work or misbehaving with colleagues. Downsizing turnover is targeted at a group of employees by an organization, it occurs as a part of organizational restructuring or cost-reduction program to improve organizational effectiveness and increase shareholder value. This reduction could be permanent or temporary due to a plant or site closing or relocation. The reduction in workforce also occurs at the time or mergers and acquisitions (Heneman Judge, 2006). 3.6 Cost as aresult of Employee Turnover The most important factor of high employee turnover that affects any organization is the cost. These costs can further be divided into the recruitment costs, training costs, lost productivity costs, new hire costs and lost sales costs (Pilbeam Corbridge, 2006). Recruitment costs are usually in the form of advertisements. The organization also incurs cost as they have to pay the recruitment agency, and also for posting advertisements on the internet. The training costs include cost of departmental training, cost of the person(s) who conduct the training and cost of various training materials. There are lost productivity costs as the new trained employee would only contribute at 25% productivity level for the first 2-4 weeks and cost of mistakes the new employee makes during his induction period. The new hire costs include putting the person on the payroll, establish computer and security passwords and identification cards, telephone hookups and cost of establishing email accounts. Th e lost sales costs or lost revenue which is calculated by multiplying the number of weeks the position is vacant by the averageweeklyrevenueperemployee.Despite the costs of high employee turnover being so significant it is overlooked and rarely calculated. Few organizations, 7 per cent of those surveyed, calculate the more extensive costs of turnover (CIPD, 2004a). When these organizations were asked why they dont calculate these costs, over half of them gave the reason that the organization did not require the information, while a third stated that calculating the various costs was just too time consumingforthem. According to Risher Stopper (2002) for an organization cost of replacement can sometimes account to around 2.5 times the annual salary of an existing employee. Such costs are rarely identified by the accounting department of an organization. Therefore, in order to avoid such turnover costs, organizations must form a successful retention strategy overtime. 3.7 Customer Satisfaction and Customer Retention According to Hill (2006) recently many organizations whether it be a small one or a large one, they have increasingly come to understand that it is important for them to maintain customer satisfaction. Nowadays the organizations have realized the fact that retaining existing customers is easier and less costly than finding some new ones. Todays businesses are so competitive that in order to gain or win new customers, organizations have to invest a lot of money. Organizations have started to realize that there is a strong link between customer satisfaction, customer retention and profitability. For many organizations in the hospitality and service industry customer satisfaction will be the topmost priority in order to be successful. Meeting the various needs of the customers and satisfying them has become the key operational goal for many organizations. Customers would only be satisfied when the organizations product or service is good enough to meet their requirements and therefore t his needs to be measured by the organization. In the words of Argenti (2002) in order to measure the overall success of any given product or service one needs to find out how often do the customers buy that same product or service. A customer buying the same product repeatedly would mean that he/she is satisfied with that product. If one can put it in simple terms, a company can make regular profits if customers show a long term commitment to their product or service. The reason why organizations can make profits from long-term and loyal customers is because they dont have to invest huge sums in attracting the new customers through the means of advertisements and promotions. Therefore, if a company after acquiring a new customer manages to keep them in the long-run, its investment on acquiring will pay off. E.g. If McDonalds want to stay competitive in the fast food industry it needs to make sure that their customers are always satisfied with the food and also the customer service. This is essential for retaining customers and would also add value to the company,thereby increasing the company profits. 3.8 Employee Retention Retention includes all those activities that an employer does to encourage qualified and highly-skilled and productive employees to continue working for the organization (Jackson et al, 2009). Staff retention is about attracting and keeping good-quality employees, while accepting that some of them will leave the organization. However, the managers should ensure that when these employees leave, it wont affect the organizations productivity to a large extent (Bloisi, 2007). Retaining a productive employee is of considerable importance to the companys HR professional. The CIPD (2004) report intro HR trends and indicators reported that 31.7 percent of employers face difficulty with retaining its employees. Large organizations find it even moredifficulttoretaintheirworkers.According to Browell (2003) an organization can benefit a lot from retaining the existing staff, some of them include: reduction in recruitment costs and selection and training of new staff, it keeps skills and knowledg e within the organization, helps improve performance, productivity and profitability, it helps in building customer loyalty and satisfaction, and lastly, it could help increase the sales volume of the organization thereby making them competitive in the market. Organizations should consider the following elements which would help in retaining employees: Job previews employees should be given a more realistic job preview when they are being recruited. Care should be taken not to give them high expectations that cannot be met. Improve management style one of the main reasons employees leave the organization is due to dissatisfaction with their managers. Organizations that would like to improve retention should take measures to improve their managers people management skills. Career development and Progression organizations should give their employees ample of opportunities to develop their skills. This can be done by introducing mentoring scheme, encouraging multi-skilling, improving career development opportunities and investing in succession planning (CIPD, 2008). Flexibility organizations should be flexible towards employees working hours and times. If employees are forced to work hours which is not convenient for them, they will look for jobs elsewhere. Treat people equally and fairly to improve retention organizations should make sure not to discriminate against employees. If they are unfair towards them it will result in voluntary resignations. Every employee that belongs to a team should be treated equally by the managers. Improve pay and benefits Many employees leave due to less pay and no benefits. A simple pay rise could be a useful strategy for organizations to retain their employees. Organizations should make sure that they match the market rates or better it when it comes to good performingemployees (Muller-Camenetal, 2008). 3.9 Recruitment In todays global competitive market organizations are under constant pressure to perform well and stay competitive and in order to achieve that, they need to recruit the right people for the right job. Recruitment is a very costly process as a lot of resources go into it. If the organization recruits wrong people it could cost to the organization huge sums and also loss of valuable time. Therefore it is important for the recruitment process to be fair, reliable and valid (Armstrong, 2001). According to Bratton and Gold (2003) an organization should setup such a recruitment process, which will help in generating a pool of talented and skilled workers who are capable for employment in an organization. Recruitment involves searching and hiring qualified people for the organization and consider them when filling job openings. The recruitment process should be consistent, taking into consideration the organizations strategy, vision and values. There are different sources an organization can use for recruiting: the first being the internal labor market and this could be the companys current employees. A good way for recruiting employees from within is through posting announcements in a company newsletter. According to the CIPD recruitment survey (2004a) 84 percent of UK organizations surveyed looked for applicants from within the organization. They did so by using internal email or intranet (69 percent), notice and bulletin boards (68 percent), team meetings (18 percent), staff newsletter or magazines (14 percent), and by memos, circulars and approaching directly. The second source would be the external labor market and this could be reached via electronic media and also referrals from current employees (Jackson et al, 2009). However, the success rate of these sources is not equal and may vary e.g. employee referrals may yield better quality applicants than through newspaperadvertisements. It is important for any organization to monitor its recruitment process as this will help reduce the talented and knowledgeable employees from leaving the organization. For any organization the recruitment process is the very first stage of retention. It is therefore important for an organization to monitor the recruitment practice as it will help in finding the right candidate for the job. In the long term this will also help the organization to reduce the turnover levels. 3.10 Training The primary reason that organizations train their new employees is to increase the level of the knowledge, skills and abilities that they possess. It can be used as one of the ways to retain its existing employees, as training will give them an opportunity to develop new skills and gain knowledge. The amount of training given to the employees has a positive influence on the organizations revenue and overall profitability. Managers should therefore keep a watchful eye on the organizations goals and strategies while conducting training programmes (Snell Bohlander, 2007). Training is also described as a planned process which enables to change the attitudes of people; it helps a person to gain some knowledge and develop the skills through various activities which helps the person to achieve effective performance. Training an employee at work is important as the employee will be able to meet the requirements of the organization in the present and in the future (Beardwell et al 2004). Tra ining is the systematic process of altering the behavior of employees in a direction that will achieve organizational goals. Training is related to present job skills and abilities. It has a current orientation and helps employees master specific skills and abilities needed to be successful (Ivancevich,2007). There are two generally accepted methods of training: one of them is called on-the-job training and the other is called off-the-job training. On-the-job training is probably the most widely used method of training and it usually takes place at the workplace. Off-the-job training usually takes place in a location which is outside of the workplace and is normally more expensive than the on-the-job training (Mullins,2005). In on-the-job training an experience worker trains the newly recruited employee. E.g. in McDonalds trainees acquire skills such as running a machine, making of a burger by observing the experienced worker. OJT is also used for top level management, there are â⠂¬Ëœassistants who train and develop the future managers. Some other forms of OJT include apprenticeships and self-directed learning. The advantage of OJT is that it can be customized according to the experiences and abilities of the trainees. Off-the-job training provides group based learning opportunities which is conducted at a site which is away from the workplace. Off-the-job training is conducted in an off-site training classroom close to the workplace or in a corporate or private facility. Off-the-job training is usually expensive as it requires a lot of travelling and maybe used by large organizations. Training classrooms, vestibule training setups and specially constructed training laboratories are some of the sites used for off-the-jobtraining(Jacobs,2003). In an organization training could also be used to change the culture within the organization. It can be used as an important tool by the organization to improve the overall effectiveness, especially in todays world where the marketis highly competitive. An organization can take up two approaches on training: a systematic training and just-in-time training. In a systematic approach, training must be designed, planned and then implemented appropriately in order to meet the needs of the organization. The training is given by those people who know exactly how to train the employees. Once the training has been provided, it is carefully monitored in order to

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

In Favor of Discontinuing the TASP Testing Program :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

In Favor of Discontinuing the TASP Testing Program Now that the TASP mandatory testing program has been in place for some time, we are better able to understand if the TASP should be continued or discontinued. Those opposed to eliminating the TASP testing program believe that the TASP helps colleges and universities to provide better classes to meet the needs of the students. Those in favor of eliminating the TASP testing program believe the test is discriminatory. I favor the elimination of the TASP testing program because the test is too expensive, the test is unfair to people with test anxiety, and the test keeps students from pursuing a college education. First, I favor the elimination of the TASP test program because the test is too expensive. The TASP test costs twenty-nine dollars to take. Paying twenty-nine dollars the first time may not seem so bad, but if you fail, you have to retake the test. Then, since you failed the test, you have to pay another twenty-nine dollars. Still think that is not bad? Well, if you take the test ten times, the testing fees add up to two hundred and ninety dollars. It is not fair that people should pay to take a mandatory test. The TASP test is taking twenty-nine dollars from you to take the test. Then, if only one section of the TASP needs to be completed, the person taking the test must pay twenty-nine dollars to only do a third of the test. It's probably easier to relate that the cost of the test is twenty-nine dollars for all three objectives, but for one objective to cost the same amount is absurd. The TASP test is too expensive and deserves to be eliminated. Second, I favor the elimination of the TASP testing program because the test is unfair for people with test anxiety. When a person walks into a classroom to take a test, that person thinks that he knows everything needed to know in order to pass. However, as soon as the teacher passes out the test, the student "freaks" out, and his mind goes blank. Test anxiety can cause people to fail the TASP test, and that doesn't seem fair. Then, the person must retake the test, and the same thing happens the anxiety "kicks" in. The person taking the test with anxiety is not likely to pass the test and it is unfair to put him through that ordeal.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Drunk as drunk Essay

Drunk as drunk This poem is about the lustful relationship between two people. The pair lay in the flowers under the night sky and kiss each other til’ what seems like months later. I think the couple depicted are in the early stages of their relationship. They spend all day with their bodies pressed against one another and kiss in the flowers. They are so consumed in each other that they neglect sleep, food, and water. I think it’s all a bit exaggerated but it is definitely depicting a young, passionate love. Neruda uses many similes in this poem for the effect of creating a pair of lust filled lovers. He likens them to â€Å"fish under a net of our kisses. † The two spend all of their time together, and can’t think of anything other than that. He also uses imagery, saying miour wet body wedged between my wet body and the strake of our boat that is made of flowers. † He uses imagery to depict two lovers lying on the grass, and pressed against each others’ bodies. He makes it seem like the lust (and love) between these people is wedged together, i. . inseparable. The tone of the poem is very loving and romantic. The narrator is one of the lovers, which makes you see their connection better. The use of similes, metaphors and tone in this poem show the strength of Neruda’s writing. He makes you â€Å"drunk as drunk on turpentine† from his writing. Girl. Themes The Danger of Female Sexuality Even though the daughter doesn’t seem to have yet reac hed adolescence, the mother worries that her current behavior, if continued, will lead to a life of promiscuity. The mother believes that a woman’s reputation or respectability determines the quality of her life in the community. Sexuality, therefore, must be carefully guarded and even concealed to maintain a respectable front. Consequently, the mother links many angential objects and tasks to the taboo topic of sexuality, such as squeezing bread before buying it, and much of her advice centers on how to uphold respectability. She scolds her daughter for the way she walks, the way she plays marbles, and how she relates to other people. The mother’s constant emphasis on this theme shows how much she wants her daughter to realize that she is â€Å"not a boy’ and that she needs to act in a way that will win her respect from the community. The Transformative Power of Domesticity The mother believes that domestic knowledge will not only save her daughter from a ife of promiscuity and ruin but will also empower her as the head of her household and a productive member of the community. She basically believes that there are only two types of women: the respectable kind and the â€Å"sluts. Undoubtedly for many Antiguan women, domestic knowledge leads to productivity, which in turn wins respect from family and society. Household work therefore brings power and even prestige to women in addition to keeping them busy and away from temptation. Readers recognize the reverence the mother has for the power of domesticity because of the numerous specific instructions she gives her daughter, such as how to ook pumpk in fritters, sweep, grow okra, buy bread, and wash clothes. For her, domesticity brings respectability; sewing up a dress hem thus becomes more than an community. Motifs The mother repeatedly emphasizes food throughout her lecture to reinforce her belief that happiness comes from domesticity. The acts†and art†of making pumpkin fritters, tea, bread pudding, doukona, and pepper pot thus take on greater meaning as elements that link women to their families, their households, and the greater community. In many ways, food will also be the mother’s greatest legacy as he passes old family recipes and culinary traditions down to her daughter and future generations of women. Interestingly, foods such as doukonaand pepper pot also act as anchors that squarely place the story in Antigua and the Caribbean. Mentioning these specific regional foods allows Kincaid to recreate a world that’s vivid and different from our own without ruining the storys structure with unnecessary descriptions. Cloth Cloth and its relationship to appearances and proper housekeeping reappear throughout the story to highlight the importance of respectability. The mother knows hat a person’s clothing reveals much about character and personality and that shabbiness implies laziness and poverty. Washing, sewing, and ironing allow women not only to project their status but also their productivity and self-worth. Neatness in appearance also corresponds to the community’s perception of a woman’s sexual respectability and morality. Organized, productive, well-groomed women appear competent and in control and consequently have much less chance of falling under suspicion of having had illicit relationships with men. The mother therefore stresses the importance of dress and appearance to save the daughter from a life of isrespect. Symbols Benna Antiguan folksongs, or benna, symbolize sexuality, a subject the mother fears her daughter already knows too much about. Historically, native Antiguans sangbenna to secretly spread scandalous rumors and gossip under the uncomprehending British people’s noses. Singing benna in Sunday school, therefore, represents not only disobedience but also sinful, forbidden knowledge that can’t be discussed openly in public, let alone in church. Even though the daughter may not consciously equate benna with sexuality as her mother does, her protestations nevertheless uggest she knows full well benna’s seductive power, mystique, and forbidden qualities.

Friday, November 8, 2019

History of Minority Populations in the Child Welfare System Essays

History of Minority Populations in the Child Welfare System Essays History of Minority Populations in the Child Welfare System Kemp S.P., Marcenko M.O., Hoagwood K., Vesneski W. (2009). Engaging parents in child welfare services: bridging family needs and child welfare mandates. Child Welfare, 88(1): 101-26 (85 ref). Retrieved on June18, 2011, from CINAHL database http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=042c3596-dde2-40cf-8f04-43ff0060bf3b%40sessionmgr4&vid=1&hid=1 This article relates to the focus of keeping parental engagement and integration for proximal child welfare of well-being, safety, and permanency; along with maintaining the integrity, policy, research and practice of core services through various framework priorities. Practicing child welfare involves helping families through struggles and issues, understanding of cultural factors, effective communication, research and seek necessary solutions for issues, knowledge of policies and practices, avoid negative judgment, and develop cost-effective and typology practical strategies. The article also covers appropriate practices and responsibilities from birth parents, foster parents, case workers, organizations involvement for required child welfare by seeing through difficulties and differences in cultural factors such as colored or immigrant families. In addition, parents can effectively get involved by obtaining necessary training and guidance to overcome issues, along with substance abuse interventions to help balance and develop overall healthy positive mental health and perspectives in their children. Sallee, D., Redican, K., Lawson, G., & Bodenhorn, N. (2009). Parent and Youth Perceptions Regarding Drug Use. Vahperd Journal, 10. Retrieved on June18, 2011, from Academic OneFile database http://find.galegroup.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/gps/retrieve.do?resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSet=IAC-Documents&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28KE%2CNone%2C47%29Parent+and+Youth+Perceptions+Regarding+Drug+Use%3AAnd%3ALQE%3D%28AC%2CNone%2C8%29fulltext%3AAnd%3ALQE%3D%28RE%2CNone%2C3%29ref%24&inPS=true&sort=DateDescend&tabID=T002&prodId=IPS&searchId=R2&retrieveFormat=PDF¤tPosition=1&userGroupName=uphoenix&docLevel=&docId=A206689472&noOfPages=3 This article expresses the results based on a research study by the Youth Risk Behavior Survey; which reveals the circumstances, health risks, and dangers of drug abuse from children of young ages and how parents overestimated their presumption on the amount of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana the children were using in a given month. The survey mainly covers the Southwest Virginia community and suggests that drug abuse has posed an unfortunate issue amongst the children ranging from middle school through high school. In addition, the survey also reveals that majority of these students have experimented with alcohol, tobacco, inhalants, prescription/OTC drugs, cocaine, and marijuana at least once. Although some parents have disapproved and consulted with their kids about the risks and dangers involved in using the drugs; problems of drug abuse and over usage continues to raise a significant problem within their community. Recommendations to help aid the situation are educational programs and curricula centers on substance abuse for the parents and children. Waites, C., Macgowan, M. J., Pennell, J., Carlto-Laney, I., & Weil, M. (2004). Increasing the Cultural Responsiveness of Family Group Conferencing. Child Welfare, 49(2), 291-300. Retrieved on June18, 2011, from ProQuest Central database http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/docview/215270572/fulltextPDF/1300B60846451373AEB/2?accountid=35812 This article was constructed based on the Family Group Conferencing (FGC) in North Carolina to help people understand how to achieve cultural guidance and partnership amongst the African American, Latino, and Indians in the communities. Also, FGC additional intentions were to reach out to other communities and inspire more of a cultural diversity statewide to join the fight in supporting child welfare and help families thorough their problems and struggles. In providing bilingual and bicultural staff members, FGC has been effective in sheltering children?s rights, establishing joint problem solving with cultural collaborations, providing cultural strategies for better practices, and improving cultural receptiveness. Not only has this article describes how the program has been successful in connecting and providing unity to the families of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds together; they have also managed to improve multicultural issues and maintain the values and traditions in all cultures within their communities.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

From Search For My Tongue by Sujata Bhatt (1994) Essays

From Search For My Tongue by Sujata Bhatt (1994) Essays From "Search For My Tongue" by Sujata Bhatt (1994) (No meter, NO rhythm ) 4890977128329 Authorial Choices : free verse lyric metapoetry /reflexivity apostrophe metaphor appositive idiom extended metaphor solecism repetition enjambment parallelism polyphony codeswitching parenthesis 00 Authorial Choices : free verse lyric metapoetry /reflexivity apostrophe metaphor appositive idiom extended metaphor solecism repetition enjambment parallelism polyphony codeswitching parenthesis You ask me what I mean apostrophe by saying I have lost my tongue. (lost a languages) metaphor I ask you , what would you do (apostrophe) if you had two tongues in your mouth, (extended metaphor) 5 and lost the first one, the mother tongue , ( ur native language )( idiom) and could not really know the other, the foreign tongue . ( idiom, enjambment) You could not use them both together ( aspostrophe ) (apostrophe) even if you thought that way. 10 And if you lived in a place you had to speak a foreign tongue, (incorrect grammar) (solecism )( breaking the role to be free) y our mother tongue would rot , (metaphor )( the language would " rot " , which " mother tongue " is natrual ) rot and die in your mouth ( repetition ) until you had to spit it out . (metaphor) 15 I thought I spit it out ' (repetition) but overnight while I dream , ( u cannot dream what u dream, ur are unconscious , it is ur deep mind , her natrual ) " $% ' ) , ) ( munay hutoo kay aakhee jeebh aakhee bhasha ) 0 1 4(may thoonky nakhi chay ) % 7 8 : ; ; = 4( parantoo rattray svupnama mari bhasha pachi aavay chay ) @ , ( foolnee jaim mari 20 bhasha nmari jeebh ) ; C 4( modhama kheelay chay ) @ , ( fullnee jaim mari bhasha mari jeebh ) ; ' 4( modhama pakay chay ) (c ode- switching) ( polyphony: more than one lanugages ) it grows back , a stump of a shoot (metaphor) grows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins, (repetition , parall el) ( emphasizes the action of " grows " and natural tongue defeated the artificial tongue ) it ties the other tongue in knots , (metaphor) 25 the bud opens, the bud opens in my mouth, it pushes the other tongue aside. E verytime I think I've forgotten( repeitiion ). I think I've lost the mother tongue, it blossoms out of my mouth. ( parenthesis ) "Bilingual / Bilinge " by Rhina P. Espaillat (1998) 489097775034 Authorial Choices: stanzaic lyric rhyming couplets extended metaphor parenthesis parallelism asyndeton personification solecism near and perfect rhyme polyphony codeswitching enjambment rhetorical question alliteration synecdoche caesura 00 Authorial Choices: stanzaic lyric rhyming couplets extended metaphor parenthesis parallelism asyndeton personification solecism near and perfect rhyme polyphony codeswitching enjambment rhetorical question alliteration synecdoche caesura (the author uses two languages in to one ) My father liked them separate, one there (first personal)( asy ndeton) one here ( alla y aqui ), as if aware (asyndeton) 450513056515 Authorial Choices (cont.): qualification metonym zeugma paradox metaphor metapoetry /reflexivity 00 Authorial Choices (cont.): qualification metonym zeugma paradox metaphor metapoetry /reflexivity that words might cut in two his daughter's heart (metaphor )( heart=cultures, and languages) (el corazon ) and lock the alien part 5 to what he washis memory, his name ( su nombre ) with a key he could not claim. (metaphor ) ( lock out English, and the key is English, too ) "English outside this door, Spanish inside," (parenthesis )( the lock and key) he said, "y basta ." But who can divide ( E njambment) the world, the word ( mundo y palabra) from any child? I knew how to be dumb (rhetoric question) (cannot speak) 10 and stubborn ( testaruda ); late, in bed, I hoarded secret syllables I read ( apostrophe ) (metaphor) (she learned English in secret) until my tongue (mi lengua ) learned to run (personification, metaphor) (her English is good compare to her father stumbling) where his stumbled. And still the heart was one. I like to think he knew that , even when, ( qualification ) * her father thinks that she