Brain Evolution in the Human Species

Brain Evolution in the Human Species Introduction Hominid evolution is marked by a very significant increase in relative brain size. Because relative brain size has been linked to energetic requirements, it is possible to look at the pattern of encephalization as a factor in the evolution of human foraging and dieting (Foley et al., 1991). Major expansion of the brain is associated with the Homo species rather than the Hominidae as a whole, where the energetic costs are likely to have forced prolongation of growth rates and secondary altriciality (Foley et al., 1991). Paleontological evidence indicates that rapid brain evolution occurred with the emergence of Homo erectus 1.8 million years ago and was associated with important changes in diet, body size, and foraging behavior (Leonard et al., 2007). Energy Requirements Extensive energy is required for brain growth and functioning. Parker (1990) analyzes intelligence and encephalization from the perspective of life history strategy theory, which is based on the premise that evolutionary selection determines the timing of major life cycle events-especially those related to reproduction-as the solution to energy optimization problems. Foley and Lee (1991) analyze the evolutionary pattern of encephalization with respect to foraging and dieting strategies. In considering the development of human foraging strategies, increased returns for foraging effort and food processing may be an important prerequisite for encephalization, and in turn a large brain is necessary to organize human foraging behavior. Dietary quality is also correlated with brain size. Foley and Lee (1991) first consider brain size vs. primate feeding strategies, and note that folivorous diets (leaves) are correlated with smaller brains, while fruit and animal foods (insects, meat) are correlated with larger brains. Overall, the genetic costs of brain maintenance for modern humans are about three times that of a chimpanzee. The first dietary shift is seen beginning within the genus Hom o, which began to include meat in the diet. It may be argued that meat-eating represents an expansion of resource breadth beyond that found in non-human primates (Foley and Lee, 1991). Therefore, Homo and its encephalization may have been the product of the selection of capable of exploiting energy- and protein-rich resources as the habitat expanded. While the evolutionary causes of the enlarging human brain themselves are thought to have been due to factors that go beyond diet alone (increasing social organization being prime among the proposed factors usually cited), a diet of sufficient quality would nevertheless have been an important prerequisite. That is, diet would have been an important hurdle, or limiting factor, to overcome in providing the necessary physiological basis for brain enlargement to occur within the context of whatever those other primary selective pressures might have been. Leonard and Robinson (1994: add page numbers for direct quote) conclude: These results imply that changes in diet quality during hominid evolution were linked with the evolution of brain size. The shift to a more calorically dense diet was probably needed in order to substantially increase the amount of metabolic energy being used by the hominid brain. Thus, while nutritional factors alone are not sufficient to explain the evolution of our large brains, it seems clear that certain dietary changes were necessary for substantial brain evolution to take place.

Homicide - Black males age 17-25 Research Paper

Homicide - Black males age 17-25 - Research Paper Example In history, premeditated or deliberate killing of an individual by another was termed as Felonious homicide which is related to murder. The biggest percentage of homicide committed in the United States is done by victims’ intimate partners. In the recent years, the overall rate of homicide in the US has been reported to remain constant. However the there has been an increased homicide among young black males aged between 17 and 25. Generally between 1999 and 2005 homicides rate in the US remained at around six deaths per one million people as suggested by Anderton, Barrett and Bogue (1997). However there was an increase in 2001 as a result of terrorist attacks which happened during this period. Homicide committed by the use of the gun occurred mostly around metropolitan areas. Homicide rates increased in the past one decade in most of the US cities with some experiencing around one thousand homicide per one million people. This situation was experienced in Richmond and Washing ton in 1994 among the black males aged between 18 and 24. In the subsequent years the homicide levels in the same age range in Washington, Richmond and New Orleans were twice those of other cities. The prevalence of homicide in metropolitan areas of the US in 2005 was twice that in non-metropolitan areas. ... Trait Theory Trait theory is a theory which explains matters of crime with regard to the individual. It was developed by Lonnie Athens explaining how parents or peer brutalization in childhood results to violent crimes later in life. In trait theory, the psychological perspective focuses on behavioral, personality and cognitive processes related to homicide. Individuals at the o age of 17-25 are associated with a lot of emotions which account a lot to their behavior and decision making. In United States this can be seen in the black males at this age group and it is attributed to their increased incidence of homicide. Personality disorders may result from brutality in adulthood and according to trait theory. This is because such disorders affect the way the individual perceives others in the society and above all how to react in pressure. For instance a child brought up in a society where there is a lot of crime he may end up committing crimes. This dictates why black males at the ag e of 17-25 in the United States due are likely to engage in homicide. This is associated with terrorist incidences which have affected the country leading to young individuals engaged in war. Trait theory also upholds homicide especially in United States, due to the children’s early age exposure to guns according to Levinson (2002). In United States due to development, possessing a gun it is not big deal which perceived as an item for solving conflicts. In connection with this, at the age of 17 to 25 individuals are said to be anxious in facing reality. As a result, as learned in childhood individuals at this age especially male as they are said to be more aggressive may engage homicides in solving conflicts. Personal traits such as social isolation and aggression also commuting to

Achieving Service Excellence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Achieving Service Excellence - Essay Example Meeting these demands effectively requires us to be well equipped, not only with a trained work force but also with all sorts of medical products. Right from the inventory of medicines to the fleet of ambulances, each and every product that is utilized in our services are properly monitored and well managed.Keeping in lieu with the information technology, our management has implemented an online capacity utilization plan which keeps an updated record of all inventory, technological equipments, medicines, beds available, kitchen stock etc. The system is so designed that when ever quantity of any thing increases or decreases below the essential required level a warning email is generated and send to the concerned departments. This has been done to make sure that nothing obsolete is kept in the stocks. This system not only assists us in maintaining a streamlined control on our inventory but also helps us to evaluate and quantify the costs, benefits, risk factors etc. beforehand.

HEALTH LAW AND ETHICS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

HEALTH LAW AND ETHICS - Essay Example ve of creating expertise and providing information and tools, which are necessary in preventing diseases and injuries, promoting health and preparing for disease outbreaks. Moreover, as an individual provider, CDC conducts ethical research through sound science, which ensures that public health goals are, met (Bascetta 12). The organizational and community effects of CDC are based on collaborating with various partners on both national and international levels. By collaborating with various partners, CDC’s aims at monitoring public health through; conducting research to prevent the spread of new health problems, developing and supporting sound and ethical, public health policies, implementing health prevention strategies and promoting healthy behaviors. The information that is attained through research by CDC is to benefit the community, as opposed to the organization. In other words, CDC has prioritized the community’s public health, instead of prioritizing its economic gains. Additionally, CDC’s organizational and community effects, entail deriving public health decisions from high quality scientific data. In essence, CDC’s research data are objective and ethical (Bascetta

Internationalization: Japanese Manufacturing Company

Internationalization: Japanese Manufacturing Company This report was written to review the process of internationalization of one Japanese manufacturing company in Singapore. Impacts from financial crisis in year 2008 forced the group companies to exercise cost-cutting measures in their global operations, and localization is the only way to save costs and to maximize the utilization of local expertise and responsiveness to meet global competition. The review focuses on several front-end aspects of international HRM activities during the process of internationalization. Literature review on the topics of strategic IHRM, staffing systems, cultural differences and expatriate selections were studied and compared with the current organization structure and its HR management approaches and practices. Issues and problems arises from expatriate assignments were reviewed for future development. Comprehensive evaluation activities and areas of improvement were recommended for the company to leap forward. 1. Strategic Human Resources Management in International Context Strategy Human Resources Management (SHRM) is a process that allowed a company to bring its core resources together for strategic planning, for example core competency, core processes, cultural, structure and human resource to align with the company strategy to achieve its goal and objectives, see figure 1. In the context of international field where the firm operation involves in various countries and employing different national categories of workforces, the SHRM will look into broader perspective, for example in the area of six identified human resource activities in domestic context internationalization [Dowling P.J 2008]. Some of the additional international HRMs activities implemented by the HR department when Mastec progressed into internationalization are given in Table 1. The terminology of employee category are such as, i) PCN:- employees born and live in parent (home) country (headquarter), ii) HCD:- employees born and raised in the host country (where the subsidiary operate, and iii) TCN:- employees born in a country other than the host and parent country, were introduced into the company human resource system. The implementation of the strategic IHRM depends on the stage of the company at during the process of internationalization. Adler and Ghadars model (1990) based on Vernons life-cycle theory distinguishes three phases in the international product life-cycle [H. Scullion, 2005]. The first phase (high-tech) focuses on products, research and development that emphasizing on technical competency and role of functional area. The second phase (growth and internationalization) concentrates on business growth and market penetration in local and foreign country. The third phase (maturity) put pressure on the lower price and cost-control measures due to global competition. In the modern technology world, product life-cycle has been shortened to 3~5 years, which allowed Adler and Ghader to suggest a fourth phase. The fourth phase emphasis that a firm must pursue differentiation and global integration in order to achieve cost-control measures. This is the main reason for headquarter in Japan to re organize the business structure in Southeast Asia. The parent company has seen the maturity of the market in Southeast which triggered their decision to implement cost-control measures. However, detail examines at each of the subsidiary shown that there are mixture of phases which the subsidiaries are experiencing. For example, Vietnam and India are in the first phase which focuses on products and developing technical competency. Human Resource Activities International Human Resource Activities Human resource planning administrative activities in foreign subsidiary, cross-border risks management, political risk, terrorism and welfare Staffing Staffing approach in subsidiaries in Vietnam, India, Thailand and Malaysia. Recruitment of HCNs for host-country operation, etc. Training and Development Cross-cultural training, language translation, pre-departure training Performance management Evaluation of expatriate performance, overseas assignment ROI evaluation and staffs evaluation for foreign subsidiary Compensation and Benefits Tax equalization, overseas housing and posting allowances, return air ticket benefits, health-care, etc. Industrial Relationship different taxation law, compliances with host government policy, and compliances with general acceptable practice of doing business. Table: 1 The other approach to strategic IHRM implementation was contributed by the two logic of Evans and Lorange which suggested product-market logic and social-culture logic [Evans Lorange, 1989]. Both raise a question how a firm operates in a different product markets and diverse social-culture environment, which effectively establish human resource policies. Product-market logic implied that various phases of produce life-cycle need different focuses of manager which dictates the HR activities to concentrate on core competency, entrepreneurial skills and technical know-how. Social-culture logic suggested that for a firm to operate in various counties, employing people from difference social-culture backgrounds influences HR activities into providing training and education of cultural difference. Focusing on encouraging open communication, an open-minded listening, discouraging silo and facilitating activities that required less sentence structure will get around language and cultural di fferent barriers [H. Buknall, 2005]. The argument stressed the important of willingness to listen, letting the other party to clarify any doubt without making self assumption to achieve effective communication. Since Mastec had gained the status of regional headquarter in year 2009, the HR activities had started to look into above requirement, but the implementation process is still at a learning stages. This is the reason why only expatriate from Singapore was allocated to subsidiary operation in Vietnam, whereas Thailand and India still managed directly from Japan. The effectiveness of current organization structure to manage the subsidiary and how effective it can perform its role as regional headquarter and maintaining the similar level of corporate government as before need to be evaluated. 2. Staffing Approach and Human Resource Orientation As a firm progressing toward internationalization, management and control become more complex due to operation in geographical dispersion and multiculturalism. In leveraging those factors, the multinational firm can adopts centralized or decentralized approach which ever fits the complexity of its environments. Majority of Taiwaneses MNC likes Foxconn and Acer Computer practicing centralized control system. Prahalad and Doz refer centralized approach as global integration with strict control and decisions making from headquarter. Decentralized approach is more towards local responsive that gives some decision making autonomy to its subsidiary in order to best modify it product and services to meet local market demands [Prahalad, 1987]. Typical decentralized control company is a joint venture alliances. One of a reference company which operates very successfully under decentralized system is Johnson Johnson. The IHRM literature used four approaches to managing and staffing its subsidiary, called ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric and regiocentric [Perlmutter, 1979]. Through these four types of management orientations, companies can clearly change from one orientation to another, depending on the needs of the company [Mujtaba, 2006]. This statement was proven by the decision of headquarter to change management system in Southeast from pure ethnocentric to regiocentric. Detail explanations of each type of the staffing approached are given as follows: 2.1) Ethnocentric Is a staffing approach where subsidiaries are managed by staffs from PCN. In ethnocentric approach, PCNs are dispatched to fill in key position of a subsidiary in host-country. The mind set of management is what work at home, will work here [Guergana K.S. Mujtaba, 2009]. Some of the reasons to pursue ethnocentric management system are lack of qualified personal, competency or special technical knowledge in HCNs. The need for centralized control, risk management, needs for parent-subsidiary to maintain good communication and coordination are another reasons to practice ethnocentric management. However, there are several limitations associated with ethnocentric system where HCNs has limited opportunity for career promotion and leads to high turnover. Adaptation of expatriates to host country takes much longer time and often leads to poor decision and cross-cultural conflict may occur [Zeira, 1976]. High operating cost to sustain expatriates expenses being viewed as unjustified by HCNs . Typical example of ethnocentric approach company are Japanese firms such as Panasonic, Sony and Hitachi. In Mastec organization, the staffing approach for subsidiaries in Thailand, Vietnam and India adopted ethnocentric system due to lack of competency of HCNs and the needs for corporate communication. Most of the customers in India and Thailand are Japanese manufacturers, therefore an expatriate with Japanese language ability to communicate with customers parent company in Japan is still vital. 2.2) Polycentric In polycentric staffing approach, multinational firms rely on the HCN to run the business operation and rarely PCN are transferred to foreign subsidiary. Each subsidiary is treated as an independent business entity with decision making autonomy. In some cases, PCN belief that foreign markets are too difficult to understand and therefore a join venture alliance was formed. The benefits of polycentric are local subsidiary has more leverage to run business operation and achieve fastest local response to market demand. Polycentric system allows continuity of management by HCNs in foreign subsidiary. Language barrier, cross-cultural adaptation problems and high relocation cost to sustain expatriate expenses were eliminated. The disadvantage of polycentric is bridging gap between HCNs and PCNs at headquarter due to language barrier, conflicting of national loyalties and compliance to headquarter HRM policies. There are potential risks of subsidiary become federation, isolated from headquar ter and not pursuing corporate business goals [Dowling P.J 2008]. In Mastecs organization, the establishment of subsidiaries in Indonesia and Malaysia was under joint venture alliance and operate under polycentric system. In order to maintain a reasonable level of control and to provide managerial and engineering support, virtual assignments system was implemented with frequent business trips to visit the subsidiary company by the respective manager. 2.3) Geocentric The management style in geocentric staffing system focuses on global operation to draw best talents and resources. Each subsidiary and headquarter are interdependent of each other to make unique contribution based on their comparative advantages. An example of this company is Mercedes Benz, where the company sources raw materials around the world from the lowest-cost perspective and assembles their cars in Germany where the best technology is located. The strengths of geocentric approach are multinational firms able to develop a pool of global executive for deployment throughout the global organization. It encourages career development and promotion of high-potential executive regardless of nationality. However, in the process of collecting wisdoms and deploying expertise globally, host government may intervenes recruitment using immigration control to encourage employment of HCNs. Extensive international socializing between PCN, HCN and TCN to support geocentric staffing system need s centralized control which reduced independency of subsidiaries and the staffing decision is time consuming. High cost associated with cross-cultural training, relocation expenses and the need to have compensation package with international standard gives substantial financial burden to the firms. 2.4) Regiocentric Regiocentric staffing approach focuses at a specific geographic boundary, but used a pool of managers from the subsidiaries within the region. Several regional headquarter can be formed such as in Asia, Europe and Middle East which will report to headquarter in parent country. The regional headquarter gains decision making autonomy to operate their business. HCH will be able to interact with PCN posted in the regional headquarter. Parent company is able to maintain reasonable compliances to headquarter HR policy and manage risks control with PCN staffed in regional office [Dowling P.J 2008]. However, there is a potential of federation at regional rather than a country basis. Career prospect also limited to regional level and lack of opportunity for HCN or TCN to explore headquarter working experience. One should remember that the four management orientations are not mutually exclusive. Therefore, they can take place all the time within same organization for its departments or product lines [Guergana K.S. Mujtaba, 2009]. The current organization structure of Mastec clearly demonstrating the application of various management styles within an organization. 3. Managing Cultural Differences Culture can be defined as shared of beliefs, values of a group of person, ways of thinking and living [L. Laroche, 2007]. It encompasses what we are taught to think and response to any given situation by the society in which we are raised. In multinational business context that operating globally, one has to be sensitive and understand the cultural ways of doing business. An example is, in Japanese culture, some of the decision making process is executed through informal advance discussion to reach a consensus called nemawashi [Jon Miller 2007]. Greert Hofstede has defined culture as: Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster.[Geert Hofstedeà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ Cultural Dimensions, 2009] The statement implied that if we have an insight view of different people behaves in different cultures, we will tend to interact with the people in other countries more effectively to create successful business results. The Hofstedes five cultural dimensions of study can be applied to have broader views of national culture. Power Distance: Most of the countries in Southeast Asia region exhibits large power distance. In such organization, most of the power centralized in the hands of few key staffs. Subordinates have high dependency on their bosses and are unlikely to approach and contradict with their bosses directly. Individualism: Countries in Southeast Asia are a mixed of individualism and collectivism. Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam are more collectivism due to the people from birth onwards are integrated into cohesive groups, high respect for royal family and family oriented. In Japanese culture, individual opinions almost do not exist and employees will act according to the interest of their group ~ the group come before individual. American and Australia countries exhibit high individualism where people are more self-oriented. Masculinity: Refer to the societies where gender roles are clearly distinct. In masculinity society male are supposed to be assertive, tough and material success oriented. Female are supposed to be more modest, tender, submissive and concerned with quality. In Asian society, especially Korean and Japanese company, the masculinity culture is stronger, where female staffs are expected to serve tea whenever there is an important visitor. Uncertainty Avoidance: This can be defined as people tolerance toward uncertainty or ambiguity. It indicate to what extend the cultural intricate a person to exhibit the feeling of uncomfortable and nervous in unstructured situations. Country of USA and UK exhibit low level of uncertainty avoidance whereas Japan and Singapore exhibit high level of uncertainty avoidance. An example, Japan tends to have strict laws and procedures to which their people adhered closely. Long-Term Orientation: Long-term orientation versus short-term orientation. This fifth culture is said to deal with Virtue regardless of Truth. Values associated with long-term orientation are thrift and perseverance and values associated with short-term orientation are respect for tradition, fulfilling social obligations, and protecting ones face. Both the positively and the negatively rated values of this dimension are found in the teachings of Confucius, the most influential Chinese philosopher who lived around 500 B.C. This dimension also applies to countries without a Confucian heritage such as Brazil. [Hofstede, 1994, Geert Hofstedeà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ Cultural Dimensions, 2009] Beyond the economic and political-legal issues, a countrys cultural environment (communications, religion, values and ideologies, education, and social structure) also has an important implications when it comes to a companys decision about when and how to do business there [Bohlander/Snell 2007]. Asian society comprised of various cultures and traditional customs inherited from different countries. It is vital for a global manager or expatriate to fully aware of the respective culture before departing for international assignment. Some manager can adopt culturally appropriate behaviors, but that does not apply all the time in all cultural setting [Dowling P.J, 2008]. Therefore, it is essential for HR to arrange and facilitates cultural training to equip expatriates with necessary skills to cope with the new environment in foreign country. 4. Expatriates Selection Hiring and deployment people to effectively perform international assignment is a crucial decision because failure in expatriate assignment will cause huge financial loss, damaging a business, and distance a relations between subsidiary and parent company. One can concluded that an expatriate failure represents a selection error, compounded in some cases by poor expatriate management [Eugene Nic, 2002]. Recruitment and selection is a process of searching potential job candidates and gathering information for the purpose of evaluating and deciding best people for a particular vacancy. The factors involved in expatriate selection can be assessed from individual and situation aspects. Individual factors are i) technical ability, ii) cross-culture suitability, and iii) family requirement, whereas situation factors are categorized as i) culture or country requirement, ii) language, iii) MNE requirement. Technical ability of an employee to perform the required tasks is the most important consideration, given most of the reason for international assignment is to fill up position. That means, special skills and competency or important roles will be assigned to the expatriate. In most of the developing country such as Vietnam and India, lack of HCNs staffs ability required parent company to dispatch expertise to do the jobs as well as knowledge transfer. Giving that reason, an effective skill of expatriate is also important to translate technical or managerial skills to HCN. Cross-culture suitability or ability to adapt to foreign environment is crucial for an expatriate to operate independently in foreign environment. The desirable attributes shall include cultural empathy, adaptability, diplomacy, language ability, positive attitude, emotionally stability and maturity [Caligiuri, 2000]. An employee with high coping skill enabled him to survive and mix into local culture. Apart from culture ability, individuals personality, communication skills and attitude to foreigner are also important factors for expatriate to build up personal network in foreign country, hence contribute to successful of international assignment. Family requirement determines the ability of family members to adapt to the new foreign environment, particularly spouse. The responsibility of spouse to setup new home, plus the down side emotional feeling of leaving behind a career, friends and social support network may cause burden to an expatriate and affected the work performance. The major causes of expatriate failure are family adjustment causing premature departure, poor performances, lifestyle issues, work adjustment, business climate and repatriation issues, and other opportunities arise. By far, the biggest factor tends to be a spouses inability to adjust to his or her new surroundings [Riki Takeuchi, 2002]. Disruption to children education, the need to take care of aging parents and custody of children for a single parent may cause the selected candidate to reject the international assignment. In order to avoid burden of trailing spouse, the manager assigned to India is without accompanying by his spouse and children. Country or cultural requirement may impose restriction to employ PCN or TCN. Multinational firm need to demonstrate that HCN is not available, or providing a training program to transfer knowledge to HCN before the host government will issue working permit. An example is in UK, working permit for Japanese language translation is easy to obtain compared engineering jobs. In some country, working permits only issued to expatriate where trailing spouse is not permitted to work, which may create adjustment problems. Or work permit only issues to male expatriate (eg. no work permit for woman expatriate in Middle East country). MNE staffing policy is another important decision to meet company objective, for example knowledge transfer, management development or organization development. The motivational of HCN, HCNs career progression and keeping the lowest cost of business operation also need to be considered. However, for the reason of corporate control and the need for special skills, staffing of PCN cannot be avoided. Other situational factors are mode of operation, duration and type of assignment and amount of knowledge transfers will affect the staffing policy. The ability to speak local language linked to the capability to learn local culture. Differences in language are recognized as major barrier to effective cross-cultural communication. Even though, many multinational firms places language at less important criteria and they view language as a mechanical which is manageable by individual. Expatriates who are able to speak local language will be regarded as part of the local society which make business communication much easier and friendlier. The other important aspect of language is the ability to understand corporate language. Some multinational firm from non-English speaking countries may adopt corporate communication using the language of parent country (eg. Japanese or Korean) as a standard way of reporting. Prospective candidate may be eliminated from the potential pool due to a lack of competency in the common language [R.Marschanp, 1999]. Therefore, language ability may limit the multinational firm ability to select the most ap propriate candidate. The requirement of Japanese language to communicate with Japanese customers has placed restriction of expatriate selection in India Thailand. 5. Lessons Learned The decision of headquarter in Japan to change management system in Southeast Asia region has put great pressures on Mastecs HR management to looks beyond local context. Throughout the process of implementing IHRM activities, numerous valuable experiences have been learned for future improvement although there is no major problems arise. Those experiences suggested that IHRM does not only facilitate and supporting business units but plays a strategic roles to initiate the planning process and monitoring the implementation throughout the organization. The close coordination between HR department and individual business units in the implementation process is essential to realize the company objections. Several experiences gained are examined below for learning process: 5.1) Mis-match of expectation: Lack of cultural understanding: It is not surprise that the cultural training was ignored because HR department has taken for granted that Singapore is a multicultural country. The expectation manager from the HNC in term of responsiveness and local staffs management have causes conflict under visible management system. This had resulted the manager to fly more often to the destination to resolve the issues. 5.2) Lack of cultural understanding: In India, holding hands between male-and-male indicate good relationship and trust of each other. However, this practice has given a culture shock to the Japanese expatriate when a local customer tried to hold his hand during the walks for lunch after a serious business discussion. 5.3) Insufficient expatriate arrangements: The last minutes decision of selecting a candidate for job assignments in Vietnam has given surprises to the spouses. In order to keep his job performance, the expatriate agreed on the assignment and leave behind his ill parent to be taken care by his spouse alone. Frequently, the expatriate has to return to home at his own expenses for traveling cost. 5.4) Lack of communication channel: The above mentioned expatriate does not has communication channel to relay his personal problem to the company. Approaching directly to his boss could be misinterpreted into demanding for extra benefits. The issue may be solved if HR could approach open-minded discussion or using mentoring approach. 5.5) Language barrier: Due to the unique communication requirement with Japanese expatriate of customers and potential local candidate for jobs assignment in Thailand and India was eliminated. This has slowed down company objective to reduce operating cost toward regiocentric management system. 5.6) Lack of broader perspective: Due to different compensation package for overseas assignment between Japanese and Singapore expatriate, a potential local candidate who has Japanese language ability rejected the offers for job assignment in India. The difference of compensation especially in hardship country has viewed as unjustified and less attractive by local staff. 5.7) Lack of cultural understanding: A newly expatriate Japanese manager exercises his authority to force a group of employee to work during the cultural national holiday in Thailand (Buddhist festival celebration). The manager has promised to his customer to dispatch his employees to support production and will pay triple salary for the over-time working hours. Without understanding the cultural practice of religious celebration in Thailand, he applied pure ethnocentric management style that worked well in Japan into Thailand society. That incident caused cultural conflict between that group or worker and the expatriate. 6. Conclusions The internationalization process of Mastec is still at an early stage where there are still many activities needed to put in place to strengthen its operation. Mastec need to look beyond its coverage of IHRM studies in the area of training and development, performance management of expatriate, management of repatriates, succession plan, industrial relation, and human resources management in host-country. The issues and problems that arise could be avoided if the proper pre-departure trainings were conducted before expatriate assignment. People before Products is a philosophy of the founder of Panasonic Group company, Konosuke Matsushita (1984-1989), emphasize on cultivating the potential ability and development of workers before business [Konosuke Matsushita, 2007]. For example, Samsung Electronics used internal developed Local Expert program to train employees to better understand the international business environment [Tony Michell, 2010]. We can also predict that in long run there is possibility for parent company decision to move toward to polycentric system in Southeast Asia region subjected to successful of current arrangement. Therefore, it is crucial for Mastec to implement more IHRM activities in order to demonstrate its independency and capability to manage the regional business. At the same time, it is essential to gain respect and trust from headquarter by adopting strong corporate governance, cooperation and compliances to headquarter HR policies in Japan. 7. Bibliography Peter J.Dowling; Marion Festing Allen D.Engle, SR.: International Human Resources Management (2008). South-Western Cengage Learning Hugh Scullion Margaret Linehan: International Human Resources Management (2005) Evan P; Lorange: The Two Logics Behind Human Resource Management (1989). Palgrave Macmillan Hugh Bucknall; Reiji Ohtaki: Mastering Business in Asia (2005). John Wiley Son D.A. Heenan and H.V. Perlmutter: Multinational Organization Development (1979) Addision-Wesley. Prahalad C.K.; and Doz Y.L: The Multinational Mission, Balancing Local Demand and Global Vision (1987). New York, Free Press Mujtaba B.G: Cross Cultural Change Management (2006). Liumina Press, Tamarac, Florida Guergana Karadjova-Stoev; Mujtaba B.G: Strategy Human Resource Management and Global Expansion Lessons from The Euro Disney Challenges in France, International Business Economics Research Journal, Vol.8, No. 1 (January 2009), pp.69-77 Y.Zeira: Management Development in Ethnocentric Multinational Corporation, California Business Review, Vol. 18, No.4 (1976), pp.34-42 Lionel Laroche; Don Rutherford: Recruiting, Retaining, and Promoting Culturally Differences Employees (2007). Butterworth-Heinemanm Jon Miller (2007): The Art of Nemawashi http://www.gembapantarei.com/2007/03/the_art_of_nemawashi.html Geert Hofstedeà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ Cultural Dimensions. http://www.geert-hofstede.com/ Geert Hofstede: Cultural and Organization Intercultural-cooperation and its important for survival (1994). Maidenhead, McGraw Hill Bohlander/Snell: Managing Human Resources (2007), 14e. Thomson South-Western Eugene McKenna and Nic Beech: Human Resources Management-a concise analysis (2002). Financial times, Prentice Hall P. Caligiuri: The Big Five Personality Characteristics as Predictors of Expatriates Desire to Terminate the Assignment and Supervisor-rated Performance. Personal Psychology, Vol. 53 (2000), pp 67-88. R.Marschanp-Piekkari, D.Welch and L.Welch: Adopting Common Corporate Language, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 10, No.3 (1999), pp.377-90 Riki Takeuchi, Seokhwa Yun, and Paul Tesluk: An Examination of Crossover and Spillover Effects of Spousal and Expatriate Cross-Cultural Adjustment on Expatriate Outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 87, No. 4 (August 2002): 655-66. Konosuke Matsushita: Konosuke Matsushitas Enduring Insight-The Heart of Management (2007). PHP INSTITUTE, INC, ISBN978-4-569-69112-1 Tony Michell: Samsung Electronics-and the struggle for leadership of the electronics industry (2010). John Wiley Son

Computer Direct-Sellers :: Internet Technology Essays

Computer Direct-Sellers Computers and computer sales have evolved rapidly over the past few decades. Purchasing computers no longer has to involve an intermediate sales person. You can order your computer direct from the manufacturer through the Internet. Although there are many computer direct sellers, I am analyzing three of their web sites, Dell, IBM and Gateway. I chose these based on their similarities. They are all large manufacturers that use Intel processors and they allow the buyer to select the exact specifications of the computer they wish to purchase. The first thing I would like to compare is the overall appearance of the web pages. It is important because this is how customers receive their first impression. All three web sites are attractive and have good use of color and pictures. The home pages contain many links but not enough to be overwhelming. The sites do not contain any outside ads or annoying pop ups to distract viewers. All three companies sell computers for home, small and large business, industry, government and education. Although they do sell to all different types of purchasers, each appears to be targeting a different audience. Gateway’s site has a large picture that would likely appeal to the common person. The web site’s home page alternates the use of three different pictures. One picture is of a person holding a notebook computer and refers to the notebook as a friend. Another picture shows a man sitting on the floor working on the notebook. The pictures on Gateway’s web site all contain notebooks and are showing the use of computers beyond the normal business setting. The last picture is of a man outside and refers to the office as a state of mind. Dell appeals to those looking for personal computers but focuses more on the business world. Their home page contains two pictures at a time; one with people and one of a product. These pictures change consistently when you return to the web site, most are pictures are of business or professional setting. For example, one picture portrays Dell as a way to expand a strategic partnership. IBM’s main target is industry. It provides services the other two web sites do not offer. This web site is focused more on these services rather than their products.

Jock Culture Essay

In 1975, Robert Lipsyte wrote â€Å"Jock Culture† which was in â€Å"The Sportsmaster.† It didn’t appear in â€Å"The Nation† until 2011. Analysis will examine the credibility of the examples used by the author to stage his claims. Robert is a sportswriter and a broadcast journalist who is also known for his young adult novels. He was born in 1938 in the Bronx. Throughout his childhood, he would’ve described himself as a â€Å"puke.† He was bullied and felt like an outcast. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in English from Columbia University at only 19 years of age. He also received his Master’s degree in journalism. When Lipsyte was a reporter and writer for The New York Times, he published more than 500 columns, & is the author to nearly 30 books. He became a sports commentator for National Public Radio, an on-air essayist for CBS and NBC, and was even the host of a public television show, The Eleventh Hour, which he won an Emm y for. To this day, Robert continues to write both nonfiction and fiction work. Basically, Robert is targeting everyone, both jocks and pukes. Judging by his descriptions of jocks, he assumes none would end up reading this article anyway, so is main focus is â€Å"puke.† Jock Culture glorifies the young, the strong and the beautiful, and Lipsyte gets the tragic implications. Although in his article, he describes himself as a puke, it seems as if he would fit better under the jock section. Given the competitive journalism, he probably owes his success as a sports writer in some measure to his own socialization in Jock Culture or whether his socialization into success in those savage precincts renders him now more sympathetic than he would otherwise be to Jock Culture. He goes on to talk about that there are more than just these 2 categories of people or you can fall under both categories. Boys are taught to be tough, stoical, and aggressive, to play hurt, to hit hard, and to win in every aspect of their lives. Jocks could also be pukes though, they have the jock mentality, and the puke work ethic. They come to work sick, they strive to be the best. It goes to show that there can be more than just the 2 groups. Robert  describes Jock Culture as a danger to the common good, and a distortion of sports. â€Å"It is fueled by greed and desperate competition .† (pg 350) Jock Culture applies the rules of competitive sports to everything. It’s to keep the fear of being known as â€Å"feminine† to the others. You want to be known, overall, as the alpha male, or masculine at least. At a young age, most kids are thrown into peewee sports and classified from then on in that point of their lives, as either a jock or puke. Which is where all the horror starts with Jock Culture. As they grow older, it gets worse, in high school, the jocks are looked up too. As if they belong on a throne or are â€Å"godlike.† This what Robert is trying to explain basically in paragraph 7 and 10. It didn’t use to be all bad like this with Jock Culture. Sports were a way of being taught leadership, teamwork, responsibility, respect, and bravery. Now, it has become a cockpit of bullying, violence, and a commitment to the â€Å"win at all costs† attitude. Which is why Robert is pushing to show the dangers of what Jock Culture actually does to people, especially at a young age. â€Å"Pukes† get out casted but grow up and become writers or such while jocks, the â€Å"in† group, grow up to be stockbrokers or the like, because of the competitive culture the jobs come with. Overall, Jock Culture is everywhere, and very difficult to steer away from. It’s a stupid wasteful destructive madness and there’s nothing good in it. Lipsyte is ri ght to be worried about the growing dominance seen starting earlier and earlier in young boys, but he has scarcely begun to scratch the surface of the hell of Jock Culture and the impact it makes on earth, and not only our youth, but our adult population as well.

How does your chosen text attract its audience ? Essay

Soap operas attract its audiences in many different ways and use a lot of tactics to keep their viewing going up. Audiences are so important to media because without them, there would be no media. So this is why many different types of media use specialist ways to keep their audiences engaged to help media progress. One of the soaps that has being focused on is Eastenders. Eastenders Is a soap that is shown four times a week on bbc1. It is based in London’s east end. It included a wide range of characters and storylines. One of the soaps intentions is to deal with controversial social issues and Eastenders likes to see itself and as pursuing ‘documentary realism’. It does not have a naturalistic mode and can shift from melodramatic or to sitcom. Eastenders uses a lot of realism within its story lines so that the audience can relate back to the story lines. But it is misleading to see Eastenders as ‘representing real life’ as it does include unrealistic things i. e. characters coming back to life from death. This piece will look at the different way Eastenders attracts it audience on a regular basis. Eastenders doesn’t have just one target audience it has a mass audience which means any gender, race , age, religion and class can watch it as it has many diverse characters with in the soap and different types of target story lines. These story lines can be seen as some audiences maybe relate to the story line and others can be educated by them. Audiences can identify with Eastenders characters in a self image as they include many different image groups such as Goths, suited characters, casual etc†¦ It also includes different ages and storylines to go along with these ages groups like starting school, going to university, retiring so audience that match these storylines can relate to this. Different classes are also used as characters, from grade A (upper class) to grade E ( lowest class) as within the soap its has doctors, lawyers etc†¦ and among that it has unemployed people, students. So it isn’t specifically for one class grade. Families are used as well as usually in soap operas they have 3 or 4 families and in Eastenders most of the characters are part of a family and the family live on the square. Families are a good way to attract as they seem relatively real life as the storylines include arguments, death, wills, new born’s, divorce etc.. and can relate to these storylines and/or help them come to terms with there own family issues. Different classes are also used as characters, from grade A (upper classes) to grade E ( lowest class) as with in the soap its has doctors, lawyers etc†¦ And among that it has unemployed people, students. So it isn’t specifically for one class grade. Many cultures and nationalist are included within the characters so it isn’t just aimed at one certain group of people. The codes and conventions of Eastenders is very important and it keeps the audiences hocked. It is a serialised drama that is on four times a week and runs week-in, week-out, all year round. It features continuous narratives dealing with domestic themes and personal or family relationships and will have Three, four or even five storylines and they will progress during any one episode, with the action switching between them. As one narrative is resolved, another completely different one with different characters will already be underway.. Eastenders also has a well-known theme tune and intro sequence which rarely changes throughout the history of the soap which over the years audiences become more familiar with ( it has been rumoured that pets are even familiar with it! ). There is a limit to the number of characters available at any one time on screen but this allows the soap to focus on a smaller number of characters which then allows more time to be spent on each character, so that the audience knows them better and the storylines can be more detailed and involved, as well as being more numerous over time. The plots are open-ended and usually has a multiplicity of which interlinked in an episode ( metanarrative). The storylines in these cases run parallel. But episode will undoubtedly end with a ‘cliff-hanger’, which is a tense and suspenseful, un concluded piece of dialogue or action when But with the ending, it will come to some kind of conclusion as well as a cliff-hanger such as ‘ Billy’s dead’ which concludes that the character is dead but still raises up questions of’ why, when, where etc.. ’. The location of Eastenders is set around a small, central area ‘Trafalgar square’. And somehow the characters are all connected through either, relationships, arguments or history such as Phill Mitchell used to bully Ian Beal as school over 20 years ago and now you still see his subliminal control over Ian. Eastenders often have special episodes for events in the real world such as Christmas or the Millennium and even just an round up to a storyline such as ‘ who killed Archie (( an hour long special)). Such episodes are often referred to as ‘soap bubbles’. Eastenders and largely British soaps most often feature common, ordinary, working class characters, in contrast to American soaps, which tend to deal with richer, flashier, more fantasy-inspired characters, reflecting the preferences of their respective target audiences. As Eastenders has such a broad range of characters, it has a broad range of representations.