D4 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

D4 - Assignment Example They can likewise demand the school to address any archives that are deceiving or off base and furthermore an option to get formal hearing should proper move not be made. Schools ought to be tactful with data and must acquire rights from either the understudy or the parent to discharge data from the records. Anyway a few gatherings, for example, school and review official, parties helping the understudy monetarily, accreditors, associations directing examinations for the benefit of the school have been absolved from this special case. As a youth teacher, I ought to perceive this standard and guarantee consistence to the last mentioned. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) gives the legitimate arrangements that oversee administrations to youngsters with handicaps (Staples 376). The exercises gained from the video cut and the audit of the Act identifies with the accompanying realities: The Act directs how the state gives early intercession, custom curriculum to qualified newborn children and young people with incapacities. Partially B, youngsters and youth between 3-21 years get administrations while the newborn children and babies get administrations under the C part. As a youth instructor, I am furnished with the information that it is imperative to offer a kid quality learning experience. It is similarly significant that the kids with inabilities are solid and steady before getting the kindergartens together with a solid establishment for achievement in school. The Act gives me a satisfactory base of learning on the need to mind and help the state in recognizing and changing the lives of the tested. Kid misuse is common particularly towards babies and minors. Youngster misuse and disregard exists from multiple points of view and has different causes identifying with the idea example, convictions and practices of gatekeepers. By and large, guardians use youngster raising methods that are injurious or dispense hurt when baffled. Different states and associations have come up to battle against this bad habit and severe

Strategic Management Study Guide Essay Example

Vital Management Study Guide Essay Vital MANAGEMENT TEST 2 (Chapters 3, 4, and 6): STUDY GUIDE †¢Know definitions and have the option to perceive instances of ideas †¢Test will be numerous decision, 45-50 things †¢Bring scantron sheet and #2 pencil Additional free understudy study assets accessible including an intuitive test from the distributer at: http://highered. mcgraw-slope. com/destinations/0078029317/student_view0/chapter1/chapter_quiz. html Chapter 3: Assessing the Internal Environment †¢What is esteem chain examination? How is it helpful for understanding upper hands? Key examination of an association that utilizations esteem making exercises. It is helpful for understanding the structure squares of upper hands. †¢In the worth chain, what are the 5 essential exercises? Which 4 exercises are bolster exercises? Essential inbound coordinations, activities, outbound coordinations, showcasing and deals, and administration. Backing general admininistration, human asset the board, innovation advancement, and obtainment. †¢Relating to essential exercises, what explicit exercises are related with inbound coordinations? Activities? Outbound coordinations? Showcasing and deals? Administration? Inbound coordinations getting, putting away, and circulating contributions of an item. Tasks all exercises related with changing contributions to the last item structure. Outbound coordinations gathering, putting away, and dispersing the item or administration to purchasers. Showcasing and deals exercises related with acquisition of items and administrations by end clients and the instigations used to get them to make buys. Administration activities related with offering support to upgrade or keep up the estimation of the item. †¢What is a Just-in-time stock framework? were intended to accomplish productive inbound coordinations. Parts and conveyances show up just hours before they are required. †¢Relating to help exercises, what explicit exercises are related with acquirement? Innovation advancement? HR the board? General organization? Acquirement buying inputs utilized in the firm’s esteem chain, including crude materials, supp lies, and other consumable things just as resources, for example, hardware, research facility gear, office gear, and structures. Innovation advancement improvement of new information that is applied to the firm’s tasks. We will compose a custom article test on Strategic Management Study Guide explicitly for you for just $16.38 $13.9/page Request now We will compose a custom article test on Strategic Management Study Guide explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer We will compose a custom article test on Strategic Management Study Guide explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer HR the executives exercises associated with the enlisting, recruiting, preparing, improvement, and remuneration of a wide range of work force. General organization general administration, arranging, fund, bookkeeping, legitimate and government undertakings, quality administration, and data frameworks: exercises that help the whole worth chain and not singular exercises. †¢How has Walgreen’s utilized data frameworks to be a wellsprings of upper hand? Presentation of a PC based medicine the executives framework robotizes phone reorders, store to store solution moves, and medication reordering. Additionally gives data on medicate connections and opens up drug specialists from regulatory undertakings to give more opportunity to persistent advising. †¢What are the two degrees of interrelationships among esteem chain exercises? 1. Interrelationships among exercises inside the firm 2. Interrelationships among exercises inside the firm and different partners. †¢What is asset based perspective on the firm? Recognitions that firms’ upper hands are because of their enrichment of key assets that are significant, uncommon, exorbitant to copy, and expensive to substitute. What are the 3 sorts of firm assets? Substantial, Intangible, and Organizational Capabilities. †¢What are the 4 sorts of unmistakable assets? Money related, physical, innovative, and hierarchical. †¢What are the 3 sorts of immaterial assets, Human, Innovation and Creativity, and Reputation. †¢What instances of authoritative capacities? Ex. Remarkable client care. Amazing item advanceme nt abilities, imaginativeness of items and administrations. Capacity to enlist, propel, and hold human capital. What are the four measures that a firm’s assets must have to keep up a manageable preferred position? 1. Asset must be important as in it misuses openings and additionally kills dangers in the firm’s condition. 2. It must be uncommon among the firm’s present and potential contenders. 3. It must be hard to mimic. 4. Must have no deliberately identical substitutes. †¢How can the accompanying four asset qualities help continue an upper hand dependent on supremacy: physical uniqueness, way reliance, causal vagueness, and social unpredictability? 1. Inalienably hard to duplicate. 2. Assets are rare in light of the fact that they were obtained through an exceptional arrangement of occasions. 3. Expensive to mimic since contender can't figure out what the asset is as well as how it very well may be re-made. 4. Exorbitant to impersonate on the grounds that the social building required is past the ability of contenders, including relational relations among chiefs, hierarchical culture, and notoriety with providers and clients. †¢Substitutability can take which two structures? 1. Substitute a comparative asset that empowers it to create and actualize a similar methodology. . Altogether different firm assets can become key substitutes. †¢ See show 3. 7 †what are the suggestions for seriousness dependent on contrasting attributes of an asset or capacity? The less significant, less uncommon, simpler to emulate, more substitutes, the less upper hand. †¢What are the four factors that help disclose the degree to which w orkers will have the option to acquire a relatively significant level of a firm’s benefits? 1. Worker dealing power. 2. Worker substitution costs. 3. Worker leave costs. 4. Supervisor Bargaining Power. What are the two ways to deal with use while assessing a firm’s execution? Monetary apportion investigation and taking a wide partner see. †¢What is monetary proportion investigation? In what capacity can recorded correlations, industry standard examinations, and contender correlations each fill in as helpful reference focuses? 1. Procedure for estimating the exhibition of a firm as per its asset report, pay proclamation, and market valuation. 2. Gives a methods for assessing patterns. 3. Evaluates relative execution. 4. Increase significant bits of knowledge into a firm’s monetary and serious position. What is the reasonable scorecard? For what reason is it valuable? a strategy for assessing a firm’s execution utilizing execution measures from the cli ents, interior advancement, and learning, and monetary points of view. Furnishes chiefs with a quick, yet far reaching survey of the business (activities quantifies that drive the future budgetary presentation). †¢What are the four key viewpoints of the reasonable scorecard? 1. Client point of view proportions of firm execution that demonstrate how well firms are fulfilling customer’s desires. 2. Inner business point of view proportions of firm execution that demonstrate how well firms inward procedures, choices, and activities are adding to consumer loyalty. 3. Development and learning point of view proportions of a firm exhibition that demonstrate how well firms are changing their item and administration contributions to adjust to changes in the inward and outer situations. 4. Money related viewpoint proportion of firm’s budgetary execution that demonstrate how well methodology, usage and execution are contributing primary concern improvement. †¢What are the impediments of the reasonable scorecard? Absence of an unmistakable system, restricted or insufficient official sponsorship, a lot of accentuation on monetary measures as opposed to nonfinancial measures, poor information on genuine execution, improper connections of scorecard measures to remuneration, conflicting or wrong phrasing. Section 4: Recognizing a Firm’s Intellectual Assets: Moving Beyond a Firm’s Tangible Resources †¢What is the information economy? An economy where riches is made through the successful administration of information laborers rather than by the effective control of physical and money related resources. How has the accentuation moved among elusive and unmistakable assets because of changes in the serious condition? Moved from unmistakable assets, for example, land, gear, and cash. Endeavors were progressively coordinated toward the effective assignment of work and capital. Presently scholarly and data forms make the greater part of the incentive for firms in huge assistance busin esses. †¢What is the market estimation of a firm? What is the book estimation of a firm? What does the distinction between the two qualities speak to? In what sorts of firms does this distinction will in general be the best? Market esteem the estimation of a portion of its basic stock occasions the quantity of offers exceptional. Book esteem is principally a proportion of the estimation of its unmistakable assets: all out resources all out liabilities. The contrast between the two speaks to the firm’s scholarly capital ( a proportion of the firm’s immaterial resources). In firms where information and the administration of information laborers are generally significant supporters of creating items and administrations and physical assets are less basic, the proportion of market to book esteem will in general be a lot higher. †¢What is scholarly capital and how might it be expanded? Scholarly capital= advertise estimation of firm-book estimation of the firm. To build: pull in and le

The Ethics of Selling Violent Video Games Research Paper Example

The Ethics of Selling Violent Video Games Paper Ought to Barry suggest that Take-Two go ahead with the arrival of GTAG: Vice City? Indeed, they should think profoundly about the Impact that the game will game will have over the youngsters who play It, not just the Impact the game will have over their organization and furthermore consider that numerous gatherings are as of now against them In the arrival of the game. 2. Given the mulled over computer game is lawful, is unmistakably set apart as Mature for crowds more than 17, and is focused for crowds not especially irritated by the homes of GTAG: Vice City, is there a moral issue of any sort for this situation? Truly, in light of the fact that the game is as of now arranged the game from 17 years up and is lawful, so the decision of purchasing the game relies upon the kids who need it and of the guardians who get it to their children. 3. Do video games makers bear any social duty at all for the subjects of unnecessary viciousness they strengthen or the messages they send about the treatment of ladies as sex objects? Indeed totally, on the grounds that they are transmitting to individuals who play their game Is that viciousness and ladies utilized as a sex object Is presently a days ordinary and this will make individuals bring that into the real world. . In the event that the appropriate response of inquiry 3 is indeed, what steps do you prescribe be taken to improve the present circumstance with respect to the promoting of computer games in the U. S. A? 1 . The administration should know about what messages are computer games are transmitting. 2. Computer games makers need to consider the harm that their computer games will cause to their customers. 3. Individuals need to consider, hen purchasing a computer game, in the event that they contain savagery or sex. Firebombed Fitch 1. We will compose a custom exposition test on The Ethics of Selling Violent Video Games explicitly for you for just $16.38 $13.9/page Request now We will compose a custom paper test on The Ethics of Selling Violent Video Games explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer We will compose a custom paper test on The Ethics of Selling Violent Video Games explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer Is AF truly utilizing Quarterly to produce free openly and to make an element of contention and resistance here and there essential to their young objective market? Truly, AF is making young people to consider living in another measurement and that is being disobedience, having intercourse, drink, use drugs, and so forth. They are making think young people that doing that stuff is typical. 2. In the event that you were brought in as a consultant to Jiffies, what might you inform him to do regarding he Quarterly? I will advise him to quit advancing AF through Quarterly in light of the fact that the magazine is named a messy magazine and that is the picture that AF is appearing while at the same time advancing themselves through that Quarterly. 3. How does this case identify with the moral hypotheses/systems we have talked about? Organizations will successfully Increase their benefits and become famous. AF Is causing a ton of discussion however in that manner numerous individuals is becoming more acquainted with AF and Is an approach to call ten consideration.

Paulo Freire The Great Humanistic And Historical Task Of...

Paulo Freire was one of the many theorist we covered this semester and he was one of them how refer that the oppressed had to be the oppressors. One statement he made in the reading Freire (1992) â€Å"the great humanistic and historical task of the oppressed† is to â€Å"liberate themselves and their oppressors as well.†(1). His statement is very powerful to the point where he is making us think that the only way to have humanity is that they have to act as the oppressors towards the people who are oppressing them so that they can see that it s a problem that both groups have to transformed into a freedom. â€Å"Only power that springs from the weakness of the oppressed will be sufficiently strong to free both†(1). I also find this quote of him very important to what he means being oppressors against the group that oppresses them very important because their struggle as the oppressed group is to make others realize that it s a problem that has to be fixed befor e it becomes more of a bigger deal and more violence methods erupt. Some of the methods that Freire used for his argument was one being the oppressor. Freire (1992) says that â€Å" Only power that springs from the weakness of the oppressed will be sufficiently strong to free both† (p.1). Meaning that he refers it as the oppressed group gains the power to oppressed their oppressors the group will realize how wrong they are and it s when they start to weaken and come to peace. He also suggests that in order to gain that freedom theyShow MoreRelatedDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 PagesBRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY Kim S. Cameron UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Prentice Hall Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto Delhi Mexico City Sao Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo Editorial Director: Sally Yagan Editor in Chief: Eric Svendsen Acquisitions Editor: Kim Norbuta Editorial Project Manager: Claudia Fernandes Director of Marketing: Patrice Lumumba Jones Marketing Manager:

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Organ Harvesting in China Essay - 1401 Words

â€Å"No one has come out of there alive – Witnessed at Sujiatun Concentration Camp†. A photographer working for The Epoch Times in 2006 laid this caption under a photo he had taken to support his article. It was reported in the article how executed prisoners had become the primary source of body organ transplants. Still to this day in China, organs are being removed from the bodies of Falun prisoners without consent from anyone, to be used as donor organs for patients in need. The moment they find someone in need, the prisoners are immediately made victims. The process works something like this: In China, the hospital notifies you in advance that they have located a donor. On average you will receive one or two weeks’ notice. The hospital†¦show more content†¦(The Weekly Standard†¦) The act of killing prisoners, to fulfill the demand for organs creates situations where the donor is no longer viewed as a human being but as a commodity. The attention that China has received as a result of the charges raised by the Falun Gong organization has many people talking about the moral/ethical implications that are associated with this situation. The moral/ethical dilemma is that because there is a shortage of people who are volunteering for organ donations, that it is ok for prisoners who are locked away and labeled a menace to society, to be killed and have their organs removed for less fortunate. Logic being that these prisoners will spend the rest of their lives behind bars anyway, so why not use them to save the lives of people who have been given the injustice of a fail organ. (Human Rights Watch 6:9) The problem with Chinas using its prisoners organs for transplant operations is that China is not giving their prisoners the opportunity to give their consent. China is reportedly killing the prisoners and taking their organs without bothering to seek the approval from neither the prisoner nor their family. According to Chinese law, a corpse cannot be used for dissection or organ transplantation purposes unless the consent of the person whose body is to be used orShow MoreRelatedOrgan Shortage Around The World2101 Words   |  9 PagesIn the 21st century, it is obvious to the world that there is an organ shortage around the world. Many thousands, hundreds of thousands of people are waiting for organs to save their lives. There are just not enough organs to be spread around to the people who urgently need them. The global response to this problem is very different throughout different countries. Some countries are harvesting organs, some executing prisoners, some paying people to do nate, some allowing people to sell them on theRead MoreThe Global Problem of Harveting Organs1734 Words   |  7 PagesThe harvesting of organs is a huge problem worldwide. The sale of organs may result in an individual being murdered simply for his or her organs (Hongda.) In order to buy food impoverished families only choice may be to sell their organs (Callahan.) Those who are precipitants of organs coming from Inmates are taking huge health risk. Jeff Testerman, author of â€Å"Organs of Condemned sought for Transplant†, stated â€Å"The prison population is such a high-risk group, particularly for hepatitis and AIDSRead MoreOrgan Trafficking Essay1551 Words   |  7 Pagestotal, Im worth about $300,000 on the organ market. The organ trade is one of the fastest growing and least enforced trafficking crimes throughout the globe today (Glazer 341). Sarah Glazer claims in Organ Trafficking that 5,000 to 10,000 of the 100,000 transplanted organs are obtained illegally each year (341). Although the laws passed and organizations founded have delayed the escalation of organ trafficking, the selling and distribution of compensated organs should remain illegal and suppressedRead MoreOrgan Trafficking : A Large Problem1446 Words   |  6 PagesIllegal organ trafficking has become a large problem all over the world. The traffickers are commonly attacking the poor and promising them money but it never ends up being the correct amount. Commonly doctors and pharmaceutical companies overlook the illegal trade of the organs because they receiving money from the transplants. Organ trafficking takes place in three broad categories. The first one is organ traffickers will force or trick the individual into giving up an organ. Secondly the victimRead MoreOrgan Trafficking2239 Words   |  9 Pagestheir turn to receive an organ from an organ donor posthumously. Often patients won’t survive to see their name rise to the top of the list, this is the fear t hat organ traffickers feed on. In many places around the world one can purchase organs, which are often taken from the poor and helpless through trickery and coercion by international rings of traffickers. But why is it that with all the advancements in modern medicine, demands for replacement kidneys due to organ failure continues to riseRead MoreOrgan Donation Is A Sensitive, Heartbreaking Worldwide Predicament941 Words   |  4 PagesOrgan donation is a sensitive, heartbreaking worldwide predicament. There are currently over 80,000 people waiting on organs. Regrettably, the criteria for donating organs is rigorous, as well as tedious and strict. Furthermore, several ailments â€Å"such as having HIV, actively spreading cancer, or severe infection† would exclude an individual from being able to donate organs (WebMD, 2015). In order for someone to be a donor they must be between the age of seventeen and their early seventies. They alsoRead MoreAssignment 2 Essay1008 Words à ‚  |  5 Pagesï » ¿ Question 1 : Explain how utilitarianism might provide a defense for Roche and how a rights-based ethic might instead condemn Roche’s drug trials in China. Which of these two approaches is stronger or more reasonable? Explain the reasons for your answer. Answer 1: Utilitarianism is as a view that holds that actions and policies should be evaluated on the basis of the benefits and costs they will impose on society. A utilitarian would argue that Roche was respecting the Chinese laws by first testingRead MoreEssay on Treatment Using Stem Cells655 Words   |  3 PagesAdult stem cells can turn into many, but not all, cells, allowing these cells to be used in the treatment of some problems. Because of this, adult stem cells are often considered â€Å"multipotent†. Embryonic stem cells can become any type of cell and any organ, creating great optimism in medical fields. Because of this, embryonic stem cells are often considered â€Å" pluripotent†. Although there are great developments that can come out of stem cell research, there exist many problems that concern many, but notRead MoreThe Causes Of Life1453 Words   |  6 Pagesare okay with their body parts being used for science, as in this case, or to save lives. This case ende d with the patient receiving a hefty sum of money, and the courts decided that even though a patient gives permission for testing of their skin, organs, cells and so on, they still have legal rights to these samples and they are ultimately still their property. However, what if this case would have gone differently? Would this open the door for more doctors to just use samples as they see fit? TheRead MoreThe Ethics Of Habitual Criminal Offenders2112 Words   |  9 PagesIn this research paper, I will further elaborate on the ethics involving habitual criminal offenders in whether or not they should eligible to receive a life-saving organ transplant. Google defines habitual criminal offenders as people who were convicted of a new crime and was previously convicted of a crime(s). In a multitude of US states, there are the habitual offender laws in place to discourage such happenings, but it still happens and as of 2016, there are roughly 1.6 million people in federal

Lightning and Electricity free essay sample

This paper examines the scientific discoveries dealing with electricity. This paper presents in chronological order the study of lightning and how as new ideas would come about and be proven, other inventors would use that idea and take it into a new direction. Lightning is a form of static electricity. When it is raining, raindrops can acquire extra electrons. These negatively charged raindrops seek out the positively charged ground. When these two charges connect, current flows through randomly placed areas of charged particles. This is what lightning is, and what gives it the jagged pattern (see diagram). Lightning has been on Earth longer than people have. Still we dont know everything about it. We do know that lightning can take a variety of forms. The most common are forked, streak, ribbon, or bead lightning. All of these types are essentially the same with variations on atmospheric conditions. There is one type called ball lightning, but very little is known about this type. We will write a custom essay sample on Lightning and Electricity or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It is also known that lightning will travel from cloud to cloud, cloud to ground, and ground to cloud. Early studies done to find that lightning is electricity paved the way for several other important findings about electricity and how it behaves.

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Myths and Misconceptions About Tree Roots Explained

Myths and Misconceptions About Tree Roots Explained The root system of a tree  is seldom on the radar for forest owners and tree lovers. Roots are rarely exposed so misconceptions about how they grow and function can influence tree managers into bad decision making. You can grow a healthier tree if you understand its root system. Here are several tree root myths that  may change how you perceive your tree and correct the way you plant and grow the plant. Myth 1: All Trees Have Single Tap Roots Most trees do not have tap roots after the seedling stage. They quickly produce water-seeking lateral and feeder roots. When a tree is grown in deep, well-drained soil, these trees will develop many deep roots directly surrounding the trunk. They should not be confused with what we think of as a taproot similar to other vegetable plants like carrots and turnips or the tap roots of tree seedlings. Shallow, compacted soils will eliminate deep roots altogether and you will have a feeder root mat with very few deep roots. These trees get most of their water above the water table level and are subject to damaging windthrow and severe drought. Myth 2: Tree Roots Will Grow Only to a Tree's Dripline There is a belief that roots tend to stay under a trees leaf canopy. That seldom happens. Trees in a forest have roots reaching well beyond their individual branches and leaves in search of water and nutrients. Studies have shown that roots actually grow laterally to a distance equal to the height of the tree. One report from the University of Florida extension says Roots on trees and shrubs planted in a landscape grow to 3 times the branch spread within 2 to 3 years of planting. Trees standing together in a forest send roots beyond their individual limbs and intermingle with the roots of neighboring trees. Myth 3: Damaged Roots Result in Canopy Dieback on the Same Side This does happen, but it should not be assumed as a foregone conclusion. University of Florida extension says that Roots on one side of trees such as oaks and mahogany generally supply the same side of the tree with water and nutrients. Dieback of individual branches and limbs will occur on the damaged root side. Interestingly, maple trees do not seem to show injury and drop leaves on the side of root injury. Instead, branch death may occur anywhere in the crown with some tree species like maples. Myth 4: Deeper Roots Secure Water and Nutrients On the contrary, the feeder roots in the top 3 inches of soil supply your tree with water and food. These delicate finer roots are concentrated in that upper soil and duff layer where immediate nutrients and moisture are quickly available. Minor soil disturbances can injure these feeder roots and remove a large portion of the absorbing roots on a tree. This is can significantly set a tree back. Major soil disturbances due to construction and severe compaction can kill a tree. Myth 5: Root Pruning Stimulates Root Branching When planting a trees root ball, It is very tempting to cut back on roots that are circling the ball. It is very often thought that a dense root ball will stimulate new feeder root growth, but that is not the case. Dont worry about encircling roots as they will correct that on a new site. Most new root growth occurs at the end of existing roots. Root pruning is often done at the nursery to accommodate packaging and to resume growth before the final sale. If you are planting the tree at its final site, it may be best that you gently break up the root ball but never prune root tips. Source Gilman, Edward. Dispelling Misperceptions About Trees. University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension, Aug. 2011.

The Economic Impacts within the Oil and Natural Gas Industries Research Paper

The Economic Impacts within the Oil and Natural Gas Industries - Research Paper Example it has employed numerous Americans to participate in the exploration of new oil fields, production, processing, supply, and marketing of the oil and natural gas. It also buys the intermediate raw materials from the U.S. producers. This has led to industrial development, thus, leading to creation of more jobs. America is in the middle of an oil and natural gas revolution, which has the potential of significantly affecting the environment, national security and most importantly the economy. It is now able to tap into enormous stores of oil and natural gas locked in shale deposits around the country, thanks to technology breakthroughs. These include horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing also referred to as fracking and seismic imaging. These new possibilities will enable the country to replace coal as a source of energy with cleaner and environmental friendly natural gas (Friedman, 2012). The shale oil and natural gas boom however has been a mixed blessing for the independent oil an d gas firms. While technology breakthroughs have helped to open up new vast areas for exploration and production, the natural gas prices have been on the lower side creating challenges for the production companies. This is because, these companies are trying to justify the cost of production but the lower gas prices are making it harder for them. Current gas prices only provide these companies with marginal profit possibility at best considering the high production costs. While crude oil prices keep rising, standing currently at $93 per barrel, prices for natural gas remain stuck at $2.96 per a thousand cubic feet (Contagion oil & gas, 2010). Economists hope that natural gas will substitute crude oil considering gas is cheaper relative to energy produced. This however, is not likely to happen with production companies seeking to shift from production of natural gas to crude oil to correct the financial imbalance (Contagion oil & gas, 2010). According to an article published in finan cial times, companies may be looking to shift from natural gas to production of oil. Many production companies are looking to sell off their natural gas assets for a chance to participate in the booming shale oil market. While much attention has been paid to large quantities of natural gas shale, companies have realized that with newer technology, they can extract oil too. The article states that by 2010, the number of companies drilling oil in the country had increased from 180 in 2009 to 720 (Contagion oil & gas, 2010). Chesapeake, the second largest gas producer in the country, stated that it was reducing its gas production by 7 percent by the year 2013. This would bring down the company’s record of 23 years in which it has managed to increase to its production every year. The company officials commented that gas production would continue to decline if the prices kept on going down. This is because current prices will not allow companies to make an attractive return on the ir investments particularly in light of the investment costs incurred in developing the new unconventional gas fields that are likely to increase gas production for the next five years (Ridder, 2012). While a reduction in gas production would be considered a negative thing, today it is not. In fact, investors and analysts consider an increase in gas production as negative. Oil and gas companies are looking forward to generate attractive returns from natural gas production. Moreover,

Introduction to Social Networking Web Sites Essay

Introduction to Social Networking Web Sites - Essay Example Many of the sites are user friendly and available at no charge. Since the sites have shown huge popularity, many businesses are able to use the sites as a form of advertising. Reasons like this are why companies such as Google have invested over 1 billion dollars for a site named You Tube. To further explore a social network it is important to review what a social network is. A social network as defined by an unknown writer from â€Å"what is social networking†, â€Å"as the grouping of individuals into certain groups†. This is very true in the sense that social networking sites group different types of individuals into different groups based on likes and dislikes. Social networking sites have objectives just like any other site. Social networking allows for individuals and businesses to communicate through a virtual setting. An article by Don Lafferty, explains how social networking has contributed in the growth of social enterprises. (Lafferty 2007) Social networking allows individuals to be shown a new form of communication. This is very beneficial to businesses. A common social networking site is Facebook. Facebook allows users to search for friends, create profiles, and have access to businesses and advertisements. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerburg Mark was named â€Å"person of the year† in 2010. (Grossdman2010)

Effective Communication Essay Example for Free

Effective Communication Essay Effective communication between team members is a desire to have within all criminal justice organizations. Communication cannot only be done verbally; it can also be done nonverbally with the use of body language as well. Another major component in effective communication is having the ability to know the difference between listening and hearing. Even though effective communication is vital to the success of criminal justice organizations, there are many barriers to overcome such as: language barriers, communication involving semantics, and the ability to listen. The Process of Verbal Non-Verbal Communication and the Associated Components of Each There are two types of effective communication channels in the criminal justice field that are known as formal and informal channels. According to (www.businessdictionary.com), â€Å"A type of verbal presentation or document intended to share information and which conforms to established professional rules, standards and processes and avoids using slang terminology. The main types of formal communication within a business are downward where information moves from higher management to subordinate employees, upward where information moves from employees to management and horizontal where information is shared between peers.† In the criminal justice organization, the formal communication channel goes upwards within the chain of command based on the ranking system. The military is a perfect example because they are ran through a chain of command system where they are forced to utilize the formal communication channel. According to (www.ehow.com), â€Å"Formal channels of communication are within the hierarchy of the criminal justice field. The chain of command directs the formal channels of upward, downward, and horizontal communication through the  levels of command. The organizations hierarchy establishes procedures related to communication within the levels of command. The directors dictate the means of communication and to whom each subordinate is to report. The hierarchy sets the structure and atmosphere through written policies and procedures.† An example of an informal channel of communication would be a conversation between two people at work about a particular individual and their work habits. There is no documentation of the entire conversation and it is not formal. The Difference Between Listening Hearing in Communication There are a few key differences between listening and hearing. When you actively listen you are able to comprehend what the person is saying and able to remember it along with giving an accurate response. The meaning of hearing is one of the five senses. According to (www.differencebetween.info), â€Å"Hearing is one of the five senses of a person and it is the ability to perceive sound by detecting vibrations through an organ such as the ear. According to Merriam-Webster, hearing is â€Å"the process, function, or power of perceiving sound; specifically: the special sense by which noises and tones are received as stimuli.† In hearing, vibrations are detected by the ear and then converted into nerve impulses and sent to the brain. A person who is unable to hear has a condition known as deafness. Hearing occurs even in sleep, where the ear processes the sounds and passes them on to the brain, but the brain does not always react to the sound. Listening also known as ‘active listening’ is a technique used in communication, which requires a person to pay attention to the speaker and provide feedback. Listening is a step further than hearing, where after the brain receives the nerve impulses and deciphers it, it then sends feedback. Listening requires concentration, deriving meaning from the sound that is heard and reacting to it. Listening is a process of communication, where if the person is not listening it can cause a break in communication. Listening is defined by Merriam ­-Webster as, â€Å"to hear something with thoughtful attention: give consideration.† When you are an active listener you are giving the speaker the upmost respect because it shows that you truly care about what they are saying. This is the best way to effectively communicate and it he lps build the relationship between the two individuals who are engaging in conversation. Criminal Justice Language Barriers Solutions to Barriers Just a few weeks ago a San Diego Naval Hospital bomb scare occurred due to a language barrier in communication. Nobody was able to understand two Spanish men that approached the gate to deliver a package. According to (www.sandiegoreader.com), â€Å"When questioned by the sentries on duty, a language barrier prompted uncertainty about the mens intentions, specifically regarding a package in their possession. Notice went up through the chain of command, and orders came back to follow precautions used in case of a bomb threat. The gate was put on lockdown, and bomb-sniffing dogs were called in. Since the area immediately surrounding the gate lies outside Navy jurisdiction, a notice went out to police for assistance. The SDPD complied by setting up a blast perimeter, closing access to Florida and — according to an eyewitness — Pershing Drive north of 26th Street and south of Upas. No residential streets were affected by the closures.† Eventually a border patrol offi cer came to aid the Naval Police and translated the words of the two Spanish men. They were not a threat at all and were merely just delivering hospital items to the base. A solution to this problem must take place to avoid an issue like this happening again. A quick solution to this issue is to train all security personnel on navy bases so they can understand multiple languages and/or having personnel who already speak multiple languages guard the front gate. If all personnel were able to understand all languages then this problem will have never happened. A situation like this is an embarrassment and is also can fall into the lines of harassment if the two men wanted to press charges. References Business Dictionary. (2014, Jan 6). Formal Channels of Communication. Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com Difference Between. (2013, December 12). Difference Between Hearing and Listening. Retrieved from http://www.differencebetween.info San Diego Reader. (January 2, 2014). Language Barrier Prompts Naval Hospital Bomb Scare. Retrieved from http://www.sandiegoreader.com eHow. (2014, Jan 10). Formal and Informal Channels of Communication. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com

career goal :: essays research papers

It has been my craving in every aspect of life to do things differently, chart my own path and tread in to uncharted territory. Nine years back, this what made me join a course in bachelor of marine engineering at MERI, the only institute in India exclusively offering such a course. Idea of venturing in to high sees, braving the storms with only handful of resources and almost completely cut off from out side world made adrenaline pumping in to my veins. All this along with opportunity to get exposure to highly sophisticated systems on board ships, which was fodder for my technical bent of mind seemed perfect for my adventure seeking personality. Through out my career progression I have made such decisions like joining LNG shipping pool of my company and seeking extra professional qualification of eligibility to sail on diesel engine driven as well as turbine driven ships Looking back after nine years, I could not feel more assured that at that time, I made the right choice. My unusual combination of experiences sets me worlds apart from not only a normal engineer but also from a marine engineer at similar position. Working for a big shipping company, exclusively on international assignments in high tech, capital intensive and rising LNG industry is the kind of job I had envisioned at the time of finishing my graduation. I could not have come here without that choice I made back then. As suited to my challenge seeking nature I foresee my own career moving in the direction of handling higher responsibilities in the core business, initially from an advisory perspective (i.e. consulting) and ultimately from a leadership role within a manufacturing entity, preferably a start-up venture. With Asia, especially India rising on global corporate battlefield I want to be where global language and intercultural/personal skills make the difference, where technological know-how supports innovative ideas. This is where I can make my best contribution. In short, I want to be where the action and the challenges are. Thus the reasons why I want to go back to university and do a MBA to get myself a thorough business background to understand not only my career experiences but other students as well and put them in to business context and have a holistic view of the organization. The knowledge I will gain should help facilitate a career change. After extensive work in high tech LNG shipping industry, I want to transfer to shore based industry.

Personnel Management Research in Agribusiness

Personnel Management Research in Agribusiness Vera Bitsch Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics Michigan State University, 306 Agriculture Hall, East Lansing, Michigan, 48824 Tel: +517-353-9192, Fax: +517-432-1800, [email  protected] edu Paper presented at the 19th Annual World Forum and Symposium of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, Budapest, Hungary, June 20-23, 2009 Acknowledgements This study was supported by the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, Hatch project #0191628. The author would also like to thank the Elton R.Smith Chair in Food & Agricultural Policy at Michigan State University for supporting the participation at the IFAMA World Forum and Symposium. Copyright 2009 by Vera Bitsch. All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. Personnel Management Research in Agr ibusiness (Executive Summary) One of the challenges faced by agribusinesses in the 21st century is the attraction, motivation, and retention of sufficient and qualified labor.However, personnel management research has mostly focused on other industries. Accordingly, agribusiness managers have little to rely on, when developing personnel policies and procedures. Once a business has grown beyond the labor capacity of the immediate family, personnel management becomes an issue and practices developed for large corporations do not always scale down well to smaller businesses or may not fit the agribusiness environment. This paper reviews the foci and results of personnel management research in the United States and in Canada, but results are likely applicable beyond these two countries.The analysis concentrates on publications analyzing personnel management publications, largely excluding labor market, immigration, and similar analyses. The unit of analysis is the business, not the mark et, society, or other institution. The review covers agribusiness and agricultural economics journals, and also animal science and horticultural science journals. Research reports and conference papers are included when accessible. With few exceptions, personnel management was virtually absent from agribusiness and agricultural economics research before 1990.Since then research methods cover the full range from in-depth, unstructured interviews and group discussions, through interview or moderator guide based approaches, up to fully structured surveys. Several broadly based results are emerging. First, many agribusiness managers perceive their personnel management competencies as a weakness, in particular during periods of organizational growth. Second, experienced managers typically have an adequate conceptual frame of the personnel management functions, but with respect to the details gaps and misconceptions persist.Third, the peculiar circumstances of agribusiness and farm work r equire specific skill sets and beginning managers could benefit from targeted training. Fourth, although compensation is important, employees’ job satisfaction and retention can be increased with inexpensive measures, such as feedback and appreciation. Fifth, the relationship between personnel management practices and financial success measures is complicated and difficult to assess. Few personnel management studies have been able to provide evidence of a substantial relationship between any particular personnel management practice and profit, or even productivity. Personnel Management Research in Agribusiness Problem Statement One of the challenges faced by many agribusinesses and farms in the 21st century is the attraction, motivation, and retention of sufficient and qualified labor. Although this problem is more pronounced in industrialized and developed economies, growing and transitional economies, including China, also face a lack of interest in agricultural work. In ad dition, personnel management research has mostly focused on other industries, neglecting agribusiness.Accordingly, agribusiness managers have little to rely on, when developing personnel policies and procedures for a growing business. Once a business has grown beyond the labor capacity of the immediate family, personnel management becomes an issue and practices developed for large corporations often times do not scale down well to smaller businesses or may not fit the agricultural or agribusiness environment. Farm Labor in the U. S. In 2007, U. S. hired farm labor comprised $21. 9 billion or 9. 1% of total production expenses. That was an increase in monetary expenses of $3. billion, compared to $18. 6 billion in 2002, but a decrease in percentage of expenses. In addition, contract labor amounted to $4. 5 billion in expenses or 1. 9% of total production expenses, up $1. 1 billion from 2002. Custom work and custom hauling, which includes machinery costs was up by $0. 8 billion at $4. 1 billion; 1. 7% of total production expenses (2007 Census of Agriculture). Hired labor was the third largest expense group behind purchased feed and purchased livestock and poultry. But farm labor expenses are not equally distributed regionally.According to Kandel, total farm labor expenses amounted to 22. 3% of the cash receipts in California, but only to 2. 5% in Iowa in 2006. The top five states in terms of payroll expenses were California, Florida, Texas, Washington, and Oregon. They account for 42. 8% of the expenditure on hired labor in the U. S. Runyan reported that 1910-19 the share of family labor of total farm employment was 75%; 1990-99 this share had declined to 64%. While total farm employment is declining, the role of hired workers is increasing with increasing farm sizes.However, farm wages rank near the bottom of all occupational groups, second only to private household work (Runyan). This fact may be ameliorated, at least in part, by lower cost of living expenses in rural communities (Gisser and Davila). By agricultural specialization, hired labor is most important for horticultural 3 operations (tree nurseries, ornamentals, fruit, and vegetables) and in dairy farming, followed by livestock and poultry farming; hired labor is least important in field crops.Objectives This paper reviews the foci and results of personnel management research in agriculture and agribusiness in the United States and in Canada, but results are likely applicable beyond these two countries. The goal of the review is to extract the lessons learned and derive guidance for both agribusiness management practice and future research. The specific objectives are to (1) analyze the state of the art of personnel management research in agribusiness, in particular agricultural production, including an analysis of research methods; (2) determine the ain themes with respect to (a) research questions and (b) empirical fields; and (3) summarize empirical results to (a) provide a f oundation for manager training and decision support and (b) serve as a roadmap to future research projects. Procedures Geographically, this paper focuses on the United States and Canada and the review is limited to publications in English. The analysis concentrates on publications analyzing personnel management questions, largely excluding labor market, migration, immigration, and similar analyses.Labor market, migration, and immigration studies are important to understanding the agricultural labor problem and a considerable amount of work has been done on these questions (see, e. g. , Devadoss and Luckstead; Ise and Perloff; Martin and Taylor; Taylor; Tran and Perloff; Walters, Emerson, and Iwai). Less work has been published on personnel management functions and the use of different management practices in agribusiness. Personnel management functions include practices to recruit, train, manage, organize, evaluate, compensate, discipline, and terminate employees, as well as, questi ons of job satisfaction, motivation, and retention.Therefore, the unit of analysis is the agribusiness or farm, not the market, society, or other macro institution. The review covers agribusiness and management journals, agricultural economics journals, and also animal science and horticultural science journals. In addition, research reports and conference papers (gray publications) are included when accessible and relevant. 4 Articles reporting on empirical research, as well as, review articles were content analyzed with respect to the objectives outlined above.A qualitative analysis method was used to determine the personnel management questions addressed, the research methods, the empirical field, the specific results with respect to the questions addressed, and the broader implications of each article. Only articles meeting the criteria summarized above are included in the discussion of the main themes and in the summary tables. Furthermore, although this paper is based on a com prehensive review, it cannot claim to include every study in this field. State of the Art Before 1990, personnel management was virtually absent from agribusiness and gricultural economics research (Howard and McEwan; Rosenberg and Cowen), with very few exceptions (e. g. , Adams, How, and Larson). For the agricultural field, personnel management research basically began in the early 1990ies, but many of these studies are difficult to access, because they have been published as conference or working papers, or in trade magazines, not in peer reviewed journals. Until the end of the 1990ies, studies remain few and common themes are yet to develop, with the possible exception of job attitudes, which appear as an early focus (e. . , Adams, How, and Larson). Additional themes emerging later include managers’ conceptualization of the personnel management functions, managers’ personnel management competencies and practices, and the relationship between personnel management pra ctices and organizational outcomes. Few studies focus on one particular personnel management function; more studies encompass a broad array of functions and the related management practices. Exceptions are studies of the management and preferences of migrant workers and of compensation (table 1).Compensation studies in agribusiness frequently are limited to a description of actual wages and their distribution, sometimes not including benefits, and not relating compensation to organizational outcome variables (see, e. g. , studies cited in Maloney and Milligan). Examples of compensation studies, which transcend this limitation, are a pay method and performance study (Billikopf and Norton), a study of the effect of compensation and working conditions on retention (Gabbard and Perloff), and studies of the relationship between wage, production technologies, and farm size (Hurley, Kliebenstein, and Orazem; Yu et al. . Gabbard and Perloff found that for the same monetary investment employ ee benefits increase the probability of retaining good workers more 5 than higher wages. Strochlic et al. also found benefits to increase retention. No relationship between wages and retention rates was found by Miklavcic, as well as Strochlic et al. Considering that, regardless of the personnel management model used (see Delery and Doty for the universalistic, contingency, and configuration models), specific management practices cannot e considered to function in isolation and independent of other practices. Conclusions based on such studies of singular practices would be limited. Therefore, even researchers interested in a particular personnel management function and in comparing relevant practices for this function, would have to take a more integrative approach and describe other practices to provide context. Empirical evidence for the relevance of the integrative approach in agriculture and agribusiness was provided in Adams, How, and Larson; Chacko, Wacker, and Asar; and Muger a and Bitsch.Despite many commonalities between different branches of agricultural production, the type and conditions of work vary, as does the dependency on weather and growth cycles, e. g. , comparing vegetable production to swine production. Both researchers and practitioners therefore will primarily look at the research matching their current undertaking most closely. Studies vary in their empirical coverage, with respect to the scope of farming specializations included, from studies focused on a single specialization (e. g. , floriculture) to studies including multiple specializations (e. . , horticulture, including floriculture, fruit and vegetable production), and the scope of personnel management functions analyzed, from single function studies (e. g. , compensation; see above) to studies including selected or multiple functions (table 1). Dairy farming stands out as the specialization most likely to be researched. Given that hired labor plays an even larger role in horticu ltural production than in dairy farming, the reasons for the higher interest in personnel management in dairy research are not obvious.The Journal of Dairy Science published papers of a Symposium: Dairy Personnel Management as early as 1993. In addition to the dairy studies reported in table 1 that address personnel management specifically other studies of dairy farming included personnel management questions in broader studies of farm expansion (Bewley, Palmer, and Jackson-Smith; Hadley, Harsh, and Wolf; Stahl et al. ). These studies found that personnel management competencies are most important for the success of farm expansion, but these competencies are also most challenging for farm managers.After an expansion, managers are more likely to use formal practices with respect to all major personnel management functions (Stahl et al. ), but some 6 problems, such as communication, persist (Hadley et al. ), although managers spend more time on personnel management. Also, personnel ma nagement education for large dairy farms has been emphasized as an opportunity for extension programming (Brasier et al. ).A relatively new arena of research, which cuts across different agricultural specializations, is the interface of personal management and sustainable or organic production. The questions being asked include whether sustainable and organic agriculture are inherently beneficial to employees, whether the commitment to sustainability does or should include a social component, and whether a fair labor certification approach would be beneficial to producers (e. g. Shreck, Getz, and Feenstra; Strochlic and Hamerschlag; Strochlic et al. ). Although a majority of certified organic farmers in California believe that organic agriculture is more socially sustainable than conventional agriculture, there is little support to include criteria on working conditions in the organic certification (Shreck, Getz, and Feenstra). On the other hand, Strochlic et al. found considerable interest in a fair labor certification (59% of respondents).Research Methods of Empirical Studies Considering the early stage of personnel management research in agribusiness, research methods were expected to be mostly exploratory and qualitative (Bitsch 2000 and 2005). However, research methods cover the full range from in-depth, unstructured interviews and group discussions, through interview or moderator guide based approaches, up to fully structured surveys administered at the business site or off-site one-on-one or in a group setting, over the phone, or mailed questionnaires (table 2).Fornaciari and Dean found a similar phenomenon in the study of religion, spirituality, and management, where research methods also include many quantitative approaches, despite the early stage of the research field. Reasons for the seemingly early venture into highly structured and quantitative research approaches are more likely to be caused by expectations set up in the qualification process of researchers, professional pressures regarding publication outlets, and differing prestige of certain research approaches in researchers’ professional fields than by research considerations.Although, this review of studies of personnel management in production agriculture and agribusiness cannot claim completeness, the number of studies employing unstructured or moderately structured methods (first two columns in table 2) appears lower than the number of studies employing highly or very highly structured methods (last two columns in table 2). 7However, even many of the quantitative, highly structured studies did not attempt (or accomplish) representative sampling and, therefore, their generalizability can only be judged based on their descriptions of the research approaches and the methods used, and the comparison of results across studies. As a result, researchers and practitioners planning to use studies of either research approach may need to analyze the original sources a nd pay close attention to details, before evaluating the applicability of their results to a different context.Most studies rely on a single method for data collection and multi-method studies are rare. An exception is the case study approach of best management practices by Strochlic and Hamerschlag that employed a variety of methods including semi-structured interviews with farm managers, focus groups with employees, and informal interviews with key informants. Multimethod approaches are likely to yield more valid results, due to the method triangulation involved.The method used most often by personnel management researchers in production agriculture and agribusiness is a survey questionnaire (table 2). Questionnaires are administered in a variety of ways, most frequently in person, which is more likely to garner to reliable results than mailed questionnaires, given the sensitivity of many personnel management questions, but also requires more resources. The number of studies using a mailed questionnaire is surprisingly high, considering the difficulty of developing a questionnaire that is fully understood by potential research participants.Other methods used frequently are moderately structured interviews either in an individual setting or set up as group discussions. Although resource intensive, these latter approaches are more likely to gather reliable data and allow for in-depth study of research questions than the more highly structured approaches, given the early stage of the field, the lack of common understanding of personnel management terms of potential research participants and researchers, and the multitude of interactions etween personnel management practices. Managers’ Conceptualization of Personnel Management Functions As early as 1967, Adams, How, and Larson observed that some farmers seem to have much fewer difficulties in finding and keeping the workforce they needed than other farmers in a comparable situation. Their research showed that this difference was not a chance occurrence, but that these farmers had invested considerably in the relationships with their workforce and carefully developed their personnel management practices.Similarly, Rosenberg and Cowen 8 found dairy managers’ assumptions about their workforce to correlate with their milk output, and suggest that those assumptions guide the choice of organizational structure and the management practices. Hence, it may be concluded that managers’ perception of which personnel management functions need to be given attention and which practices are available to them, will be the determinants of their management choices.After 2000, a renewed effort to delineate the field of agricultural personnel management resulted in three studies using focus group discussions to identify management practices in different areas of agricultural production and services, to describe their advantages and drawbacks from managers’ perspective and to critica lly review these practices. As a research method, focus group discussions are useful to integrate research and extension goals.The interaction between research participants and between research participants and the researchers triggers learning processes. In addition, relationships are developed and reinforced, which not only increase openness during the research process, but encourage participation in educational programs. During the research process, knowledge deficits can be diagnosed (Bitsch 2004). Bitsch und Harsh convened five focus groups with managers and owners of greenhouses, tree nursery operations, and landscape operations in Michigan.The study showed that horticultural managers conceptualize personnel management and its challenges and opportunities along the management process: recruiting and selection, training and development, performance appraisal and discipline, careers and relationships, and compensation. For the research participants, hiring immigrants and labor l egislation were also important HRM topics. In addition, Bitsch et al. convened four focus groups with dairy farmers and managers.Their perceptions of personnel management functions were similar to the horticultural study, and differences were mostly due to the more seasonal character of labor needs in the earlier study. Discipline was more important in dairy farming, because the continuous availability of work creates the need for terminating and replacing some employees who do not perform at the expected level. Seasonal operations often deal with these employees by providing less work to them, laying them off before the end of the season, and not recalling them for the following season.While horticultural managers considered working conditions mostly as an image problem in recruiting, to dairy managers working conditions were a permanent stress on employees. 9 Labor laws and regulations were less important in dairy farming, because few operations had their practices audited by gove rnment agencies at the time of the study. Finally, Bitsch and Olynk (2008) convened six focus groups with owners and managers of pork farms in Kansas and Michigan and reanalyzed the transcripts of the second study.Results of this study served to refine the framework of agricultural personnel management developed based on the first two studies. The most significant extension is an additional set of personnel management practices regarding the performance management function. Performance management describes the daily, informal interaction between managers and employees, including informal feedback, task-related communication, setting priorities, and dealing with problems. Although these practices are important in the day-to-day management processes, there has been little discussion about them in the literature.Also, working conditions were extended to include the organizational structure, and the social environment at work was established as another arena to be monitored and consciou sly managed. The resulting framework of agricultural personnel management includes eleven management functions: recruiting, selection, hiring immigrant employees, training, working conditions and organizational structure, social environment, performance management, discipline, performance appraisal, compensation, and labor law and regulation.Managers’ Personnel Management Competencies and Practices In a recent study, Stup, Holden, and Hyde identified competencies in different management areas on the senior and the middle management level of dairy farms through group discussions and then surveyed different managers about their comfort level with respect to these competencies. While managers were generally confident about their competencies, senior managers were least confident about their personnel management competencies (4. 95 on a 7-point Likert scale, 1=very low, 7=very high, n=41). Middle mangers ranked themselves second lowest in personnel management competencies (4. 1, n=22) and lowest in community service and public relations (4. 05, n=20). Bitsch and Olynk (2007) developed a typology of required personnel management skills for successful management in animal agriculture based on ten focus groups with dairy and pork farmers and managers. The typology consists of five skill sets: motivator, housekeeper, model employee, counselor, and change agent. This typology shows a number of commonalities with 10 the Competing Values Framework, used in general management education (Faerman, Quinn, and Thompson), but also industry specific differences.The motivator with the ability to train and motivate others, and to provide constructive feedback and the housekeeper with the ability to control, to lead, and to discipline others build the core of agricultural personnel management skills and also likely other production enterprises. In addition, the ability and willingness to be a model employee plays a surprisingly large role in agriculture. The function of the counselor, to support employees with their personal problems at work and beyond, was discussed less frequently by the research participants, but is necessary to prevent problems and to sustain employee productivity.The change agent initiates or implements innovations in the production process and was mentioned mostly by managers of larger farms. The authors point out that to be successful managers need to command a complete repertoire of skills including skills from each of the five types and not limit themselves to skills from only one type, for example, out of familiarity with certain behaviors (Hutt and Hutt). The role and the functions of middle management are a field of agricultural personnel management with few studies, but increasing importance.Not only did the share and impact of hired labor increase with increasing farm sizes, and personnel management became more important, but supervisors and middle managers are also playing a larger role. Billikopf (2001) interviewed far m supervisors in California and found them to struggle with personnel management tasks. Bitsch and Yakura employed a case study approach to develop a grounded theory of agricultural middle management (see Bitsch 2005, on grounded theory applications in agribusiness; see Glaser and Strauss on the foundations of grounded theory).The participating middle managers described an unexpectedly large number of different personnel management practices. Bitsch and Yakura suggested that these practices can be clustered into two basic types: traditional practices and participative practices. Traditional practices include reprimanding employees, orienting and training employees, monitoring and controlling employees, and dealing with conflict. Participative practices include accommodating employees (e. g. flexibility in schedules, task and team assignments), managing relationships with employees, providing information and goal setting, listening to employees, providing appreciation and feedback, r ewarding employees (non monetary), modeling work behavior, peer control, manager-induced team building, and training by coworkers. 11 Although this typology shows similarities with McGregor’s Theory X and Y, Bitsch and Yakura underline a significant difference. For the participating middle managers, using traditional or participative practices was not correlated with individuals.Each manager used both traditional, as well as, participative practices. The authors suggest that management success corresponds rather with the number of practices individual managers command than with the type of practices they use more frequently. McGregor had assumed that participative managers would be more successful. Bitsch and Yakura pointed out that some managers did use few practices, whereas others were using the full breadth of the described practices. Given that day-to-day management consists of many different management situations, anagers with a more complete repertoire are more likely to choose suitable practices. Employees’ Job Attitudes and Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction is considered both a goal in itself, as well as, a means to reduce turnover and increase motivation and performance. Although meta-studies found a smaller relationship between job satisfaction and these correlates than expected, several studies of job satisfaction in agriculture have been conducted during the past 50 years (see Bitsch and Hogberg). One of the more frequently applied models is the empirically grounded two-factor model by Herzberg et al.This model is particularly suited to structure the analysis of job attitudes and their context. Empirical evidence that indeed job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are caused differently as predicted by the Herzberg et al. model is scant (Bitsch 2007). Independent of the theoretical models and the research methods several common results emerge from studies of job attitudes in agriculture. Porter pointed out that half of the dairy far m employees surveyed in New Hampshire saw appreciation of their work as the most important factor for their performance.In addition, they mentioned open communication with their supervisor, good records, and control of the work situation; Porter concluded that financial incentives are less important. Adams, How, and Larson found financial incentives to be important for a satisfactory employer-employee relationships, but stressed the importance of consideration for workers as human beings, taking into account personal problems of workers and helping to find solutions, and getting the right fit of worker and job (see previous section for middle managers’ practices for a similar finding).Bitsch (1996) in a study of tree nursery apprentices in Germany found that a large majority did desire higher wages, but almost half also 12 desired increased appreciation, more training, and more responsibility for their tasks. More training was also requested by Spanish speaking dairy farm emp loyees surveyed by Maloney and Grusenmeyer in New York. Surveying New York dairy farms, Fogleman et al. found that employees were least satisfied with the factor managers had most control over, that is performance feedback.Billikopf (2001) had found supervisors in all branches of agriculture to be mostly satisfied with their jobs. More detailed case studies with horticultural operations found for employees without supervisory responsibilities (Bitsch and Hogberg) and also for supervisors (Bitsch 2007) that the same factors seem to contribute to job satisfaction, as well as, to dissatisfaction, depending on their availability and characteristics.For both groups of employees, job security, achievement, technical competency of the superior, and personal relationships at the workplace were more likely to be perceived as positive. The work itself and organizational procedures and policies were perceived as ambiguous, contributing to both satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Compensation was perceived rather negative, more negative by employees without supervisory responsibilities than by supervisors; the latter are likely to be higher paid and more likely to receive benefits.Employees without supervisory responsibility perceived their work/life balance more positive than supervisors; the latter are also less satisfied with their working conditions. Mainly, this was due to the fact that employees with supervisory responsibilities were expected to be available for work whenever required, whereas employees without supervisory responsibilities were given more flexibility. An earlier study in Germany, also had found that horticultural employees value flexible scheduling and benefit arrangements (Bitsch, Bromm, and Schalich).Relationships between Personnel Management Practices and Organizational Outcomes Relationships between personnel management practices and various organizational outcomes, such as productivity (Rosenberg and Cowen), profit (Adams, How, and Larson), or co mpetitiveness (Chacko, Walker, and Asar; Mugera and Bitsch) have often been assumed, but infrequently been empirically researched. Owners and managers of agricultural operations also testify to a relationship between personnel management practices and farm level outcomes (Bitsch et al. Strochlic and Hamerschlag). The few studies attempting the empirical description and measurement of these relationships in production agriculture and agribusiness have found limited evidence. 13 Rosenberg and Cowen tested several personnel management practices’ and management assumptions’ impact on dairy farm productivity, including prevalence of Theory Y assumptions (McGregor), upward and downward responsibility diffusion, employee selection procedure, employee assessment criteria, and employee performance feedback, along with record use and herd size.In addition to record use, the authors found that Theory Y assumptions and the amount of feedback provided to employees impacted producti vity. Feedback has also been found to be important in employees’ job satisfaction (Bitsch 1996; Fogleman et al. ). Although management assumptions are likely to guide organizational structure, personnel management practice choice, and managers’ communication and interaction with employees, the study did not provide evidence of the relationship between assumptions and particular practices.Stup, Hyde, and Holden analyzed several personnel management practices of successful dairy farms in Pennsylvania, including milk quality incentives, performance reviews, employment of Spanish-speaking employees, use of standard operating procedures for milking, feeding, and reproduction tasks, continuing training, and use of job descriptions. Except for continuous training of employees, farm success did not differ significantly for farms using compared to farms not using these practices.While differences in definitions between Stup, Hyde, and Holden, and Rosenberg and Cowen and little overlap regarding the management practices researched, make it difficult to compare both studies, it should be noted that Stup, Hyde, and Holden did not find performance reviews to be significant. Chacko, Wacker, and Asar compared perceptions of agribusiness managers with respect to the contributions of different technological and personnel management practices to their competitiveness. In general, managers ranked technological practices higher than personnel management practices.However, job security and measures of training and development were among the top ranked management practices. Job security has also been emphasized in job satisfaction studies (Bitsch and Hogberg; Bitsch 2007). Training has been found to stand out in Stup, Hyde, and Holden and has also been emphasized in job attitude studies (Bitsch 1996; Maloney and Grusenmeyer). Based on managers’ perception of particular technological and personnel management practices, Chacko, Wacker, and Asar also aggregated pr actices in a factor analysis and regressed these factors on perceived competitiveness.The regression analysis showed personnel management 14 factors to contribute to a higher extent to different measures of competiveness than technological measures. The employee commitment factor (job security, sharing of profits and gains) stood out as contributing to most competitiveness measures. Mugera and Bitsch used a resource based perspective to analyze whether personnel management practices and the personnel itself constitute a competitive advantage for dairy farms (see Wright et al. for a general discussion of the application of the resource based theory to personnel management).The authors conducted case studies with dairy farms to analyze the integration of personnel management practices with each other (e. g. , practices regarding recruitment, selection, training, and compensation) and their outcomes (e. g. , voluntary turnover and termination). The case studies provided empirical examp les of the applicability of the resource based theory and evidence of the use of personnel management practices as a competitive advantage. The authors emphasize that studies of isolated management practices may lead to misleading results, due to the importance of the integration of practices with each other.Therefore, they recommend an integrative approach to researching and changing personnel management functions. Strochlic et al. surveyed 300 organic farms of various agricultural specializations with respect to their personnel management practices and organizational outcomes. They found significant relationships between an overall labor conditions score and 5- and 10-year retention rates, several occupational safety related practices and person-days lost due to accidents and injuries. No relationship was found between the surveyed management practices and supervisory costs or access to sufficient labor.Conclusions Personnel management research in agribusiness has increased over t he past 20 years, but the field is in an early stage of its development. Although agribusiness managers and organizations are demanding more decision support and training in personnel management, a rapid increase in research volume cannot be expected. The number of researchers giving this field more than cursory attention is relatively small compared to other agribusiness fields. Research funding is limited or unavailable for many agribusiness related personnel management questions. Peer reviewed articles are rare, because ublication outlets lack sensible reviewers for this field and many editors do not perceive it as a priority. 15 Notwithstanding the early stage of personnel management research in agribusiness, several broadly based results are emerging. First, many managers on different hierarchical levels perceive their personnel management skills as an area of weakness. This weakness becomes more visible during organizational growth, when additional employees are needed and tas ks change from production orientation to management, including management of more personnel. Growth processes have been researched mainly in dairy farming.Despite managers’ perception of a lack of personnel management competencies, participation rates in educational programs targeting such skills are not very high. Second, experienced managers typically have an adequate conceptual frame of the personnel management functions, and potential challenges and risks, at least regarding the big picture. They acknowledge all textbook personnel management functions (recruiting, selection, training, performance appraisal, compensation, discipline, and labor law and regulation), although they do not necessarily practice conscientious management with respect to all of these functions.For example, performance evaluation and discipline are rarely practiced. Also, gaps and misconceptions persist with respect to the details of each practice and potential alternative practices, and typically t he details decide the success of these practices. On the other hand, managers perceive a need for additional practices, rarely discussed in the literature, with respect to performance management, the social environment at the workplace, working conditions and organizational structure, as well as, hiring immigrant employees.Third, not only are the personnel management tasks outlined above numerous and often times difficult to balance, but they also result in challenging requirements with respect to the breadth and depth of management competencies and practices. Due to the peculiar circumstances of agricultural work, including long hours and family relationships, requirements of managers are not less stringent, but rather more demanding than in other sectors. Various new and unexpected tasks need to be mastered by newly promoted individuals who normally are not prepared to deal with these tasks.Learning management in agriculture is often limited to imitating the supervisor (Hutt and H utt) and training in many cases consists of â€Å"sink or swim† (Bitsch and Yakura). Many farms could improve their HRM practices through preparatory and accompanying training of their supervisors and managers. On the other hand, given their lack of training, managers have acquired and are using a surprisingly large number of traditional, as well as non traditional, HRM practices. 16 Fourth, compensation is important, as can be expected, considering the low level of agricultural wages compared to other occupational groups.However, incentive systems are not necessarily preferred by employees (Porter; Strochlic and Hamerschlag). In many cases, job satisfaction can be increased with inexpensive measures, such as providing more feedback and appreciation for tasks well done. Similarly, many farms could use training and employee responsibility for task performance to increase productivity and job satisfaction. On the other hand, in general, employees seem satisfied with their work and specifically with its context.Flexibility, especially for employees without supervisory responsibility, and positive personal relationships at work, particularly with superiors, contribute primarily to job satisfaction. As Adam, How, and Larson stated, â€Å"Such relationships seem to be the end result of a combination of policies and practices on the part of farmers and of a genuine liking of farm work and their employers on the part of employees† (p. 60). Fifth, the relationship between personnel management practices and financial measures of organizational success is complex and difficult to assess.Few personnel management studies in production agriculture and agribusiness have been able to provide evidence of a substantial relationship between any particular personnel management practice and profit, or even productivity. In particular, isolated practices do not usually show a statistical relationship with financial measures or even intermediate measures, such as produ ctivity, retention, or supervision costs. Although this is to be expected according to the integrative model of personnel management, it hinders the development of manageable research projects that can be analyzed and described in a standard form.Additional problems stem from the lack of data availability and changing conditions and actors who also continuously develop new practices and strategies. Compared to twenty years ago, when Howard and McEwan declared the absence of personnel management research in the agribusiness field, managers and researchers have more to build on today. A suitable framework of personnel management functions in production agriculture has been developed (Bitsch and Olynk 2008), on which manager training and future research can build.This framework must be broadened to encompass the agribusiness value chain as a whole. Groundwork has been done to describe and conceptualize what managers do in their day-to-day practice to motivate and lead employees, and wh ich competencies they need to acquire to be or become successful managers of personnel. In addition, a lot more is known about how 17 agricultural employees perceive their work and its context and where they see improvement needs. Nevertheless, differences and commonalities between production agriculture and the broader agribusiness environment need to be explored further.Also, future research will have to develop methods to establish the relationship between personnel management practices and organizational outcomes and to analyze specific practices in their organizational context more indepth. Education and training of production agriculture and agribusiness managers, both in the classroom and beyond, can and has started to build on a growing body of empirical research, instead of solely relying on results from other industries and large organizations, which may or may not be applicable in the industry settings.Specific results from many of the studies discussed have been used to develop personnel management programs for managers in production agriculture, both in terms of determining educational needs, as well as developing and organizing program content tailored to managers’ experience and understanding. 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Scope of Personnel Management Studies and Personnel Management Functions Analyzed in Production Agriculture and Agribusiness Studies Focused on One Farm Specialization Studies Focused on One or Few Personnel Management Function(s) Dairy Immigrant employees Harrison et al. ; Maloney; Maloney and Grusenmeyer; Stup and Maloney Floriculture Recruiting and selection Maloney, Milligan, and Petracek Swine Compensation Hurley, Kliebenstein, and Orazem; Yu et al. Vineyards Compensation Billikopf and Norton Studies Encompassing Selected or Many Personnel Management FunctionsDairy Bitsch et al. ; Fogleman et al. ; Hutt; Hutt and Hutt; Mugera und Bitsch; Porter; Rosenberg and Cowen; Stup, Holden, and Hyde; Stup, Hyde, and Holden Swine Howard et al. Floriculture/Greenhouse Bitsch, Bromm, and Schalich Maloney and Milligan Horticulturea) Bitsch (2004); Bitsch (2007); Bitsch and Harsh; Bitsch and Hogberg; Bitsch and Yakura; Miklavcic; Strochlic and Hamerschlag Livestockb) Bitsch and Olynk (2007 and 2008) Studies Encompassing Multiple Farm Specializations Horticulturea) Compensation Billikopf (1995 and 1996) Compensation and working conditions Dunn; Gabbard and PerloffAgriculturec) Adams, How, and Larson; Billikopf (2001); Chacko, Tree nursery production Wacker, and Asar; Howard; Bitsch (1996) Rosenberg, Perloff, and Pradhan; Strochlic et al. a) Horticulture indicates two of more of the following specializations: floriculture and greenhouse, fruit, nuts, vegetable, and vineyard produc tion. b) Livestock indicates two of more of the following specializations: dairy, beef, swine, and poultry production. c) Agriculture includes at least one horticultural and one livestock specialization, as well as agribusiness. 23 Table 2.Degree of Structure of Research Approaches and Methods Used in Personnel Management Research in Production Agriculture and Agribusiness Unstructured or Little Structure Individual Methods Examples Unstructured interviewing Billikopf (2001)a); Hutta); Hutt and Hutta); Strochlic and Hamerschlag Moderately Structured Interview schedule Adams, How, and Larson; Bitsch (2007); Bitsch and Hogberg; Bitsch and Yakura; Howard; Mugera and Bitsch; Porter; Strochlic and Hamerschlag Highly Structured Administered questionnaires At the work site: Billikopf (1995 and 1996); Bitsch, Bromm, and Schalich; Fogleman et al. Howard et al. ; Maloney and Grusenmeyer; Rosenberg and Cowen; Stup, Hyde, and Holden At a housing site: Dunn Over the phone: Billikopf (1996); Malo ney; Maloney and Milligan; Maloney, Milligan, and Petracek; Strochlic et al. Group Methods Examples Unmoderated group discussion Stup and Maloney Moderated group discussion Very Highly Structured Mailed questionnaire Billikopf and Norton; Chacko, Wacker, and Asar; Hurley, Kliebenstein, and Orazem; Miklavcic; Rosenberg, Perloff, and Pradhan; Stup, Holden, and Hyde; Yu et al.Secondary data analysis: Gabbard and Perloff Questionnaire administered to individuals in a group setting Bitsch (2004); At school sites: Bitsch and Harsh; Bitsch (1996) Bitsch and Olynk (2007 and 2008); Bitsch et al. ; Harrison et al. ; Howard; Stup, Holden, and Hyde; Strochlic and Hamerschlag a) Studies where the method was not described sufficiently to categorize by the level of structure were categorized as unstructured. 24