Wednesday, July 31, 2019

People Management and Organisation Development

Executive Summary The introduction of changes in a business is usually related to resistance at lower or higher level. Such risk can be reduced if appropriate measures are taken in advance. In this study, reference is made to an organisation’s effort to implement a change plan in order to secure the benefits of Organisational Development. The above effort of the organisation has led to certain benefits. Still, improvements would be made to the plan so that a long term growth is achieved. It should be noted that the business operate in the fast food industry, a sector which is quite competitive. In UK, where the business is based, the strong competition of the industry has been combined with the market pressures. This means that in order to secure their organisational development the businesses of the industry, including the business under review, should focus on all aspects of organisational change. 1.0 Introduction The appearance of failures in the completion of daily organisational tasks usually indicates the need for reviewing the organisational sectors involved. If such initiative is not taken immediately then the deterioration of organisational performance is not avoided. For ensuring that such phenomena are avoided in their environment businesses can act in advance by developing a flexible strategy, i.e. a strategy that allows to managers an early intervention to organisational problems (Pasmore et al., 2013). In this way, chances for severe losses are limited while the exposure of the organisation to further risks is reduced. Organisational development is a framework that helps managers to face problems by implementing appropriate plans of change. In the literature, organisational development has been described as ‘the process of planned change and improvement of organisations through the application of knowledge of the behavioural sciences’ (Griffin and Moorhead, 2009: 504). The practical implications of organisational development are explored in this paper. Reference is made to a business of the UK fast-food industry. The specific business operates in UK for more than 10 years and it is part of a global chain of fast-food restaurants. Due to severe problems in the organisation’s daily operations the implementation of a plan for change was considered as the only solution. The key aim of this effort was to achieve organisational development within the shortest possible period and within an economy budget. Following this practice would allow the business to keep its performance standardized while organisational development would be in progress. The target set was only partially achieved. Losses were minimized but the cost of the strategy was proved much higher than initially estimated. Being an employee of the business during this period I am able to describe the various phases of organisational development, as occurred in the particular business. A series of factors have negatively affected the progress of the strategy. Still, the benefits gained through the implementation of change cannot be ignored. Drawbacks would need a bit longer, than expected, in order to disappear. 2.0 Organisational development in practice – a case study 2.1 Overview of the UK fast food sector The UK fast food sector is a quite powerful one. In fact, the specific sector is characterized by strong competition and the increased control of multinational brands, such as McDonalds and KFC (Ibis World, 2014). Despite the signs of decreased performance in the near past, the particular sector shows signs of long term growth. So far, the businesses of this sector achieve a growth of 2.5% annually (Ibis World 2014, par.2). Local brands seem to have improved their position while new entrants have become common phenomenon. For the future, the perspectives of the sector have been highlighted as significant. Still, concerns have appeared in regard to critical issues that have been related to industry’s products; reference can be made, as an example, to the concerns developed by governmental and non-governmental organisations in UK for the potential threat of the sector’s products for children’s health (Hardwick, 2014). 2.2 Assessment of the strategy implemented In order to evaluate the appropriateness of the strategy of change implemented in the organisation of the case study it is necessary to present primary this strategy’s parts. Then, an assessment can be produced in regard to this strategy taking into consideration the existing literature but also the benefits and drawbacks of the strategy, as appeared almost immediately after the strategy’s implementation.2.2.1 Key elements of the strategyThe strategy implemented in the business under examination had two parts: a) the first part referred to the introduction of changes in the tasks allocated to the staff; changes were introduced in relation to the duties of all employees, including for the restaurant’s supervisor; b) the second part of the strategy included a training program. All employees in the businesses had to participate in a training program of six weeks. The participation in the program was mandatory for employees. In order to avoid resistance the owner of the business has announced that during the program employees would be paid normally, as being in work. In the context of the program each employee had to spend one hour daily in classroom-based lectures. Also, employees were provided with support material, such as notes and lists with resources for further study. Each Friday employees had to pass a test on the week’s material. The results of the test were checked by a HR consultant. Each second Friday, the consultant had a meeting with employees for discussing their progress. At the end of the program employees passed an evaluation test the results of which were announced to the business owner. These results were combined with the employees’ overall performance, as reported daily in the workplace. Emphasis was given to the potential of employees to respond to their new duties and to achieve self-improvement.2.2.2 Critical assessment of the strategy’s appropriatenessAccording to the literature, organisational dev elopment is a complex framework. Indeed, in practice it has been proved that the above framework can refer either to the structural characteristics of a business or to the communication channels used by employees for responding to the needs of their role (Cummings and Worley, 2014). The major advantage of OD it its potential to be related ‘either to organisational structure or to organisational processes’ (Cummings and Worley, 2014: 3). Brandford and Burke (2005) also agree that OD is quite wide incorporating practices of different elements depending on the skills/ experiences of the managers involved or on the resources available for the implantation of the relevant strategy. On other hand, Yaeger and Sorensen (2009) have supported that organisational development cannot be achieved just by introducing change. Rather, it is necessary to review organisational strategy carefully and to proceed to radical improvements (Yaeger and Sorensen, 2009). In other words, OD should be based on short-term benefits but rather on the long term organisational growth. A similar approach is used by Anderson (2013). The above researcher explains that OD is not just a series of changes on existing business activities. It is rather a framework for transforming organisational practices. Such benefit can be secured only if organisational culture is also reviewed and updated (Anderson, 2013). The value of OD for the improvement of organisational performance is also highlighted in the study of Rothwell et al. (2009). In the above study particular reference is made to the leader’s role in the successful implementation of OD plans. This view is justified by referring to the following fact: in case of strong oppositions towards an OD plan the leader is the person that has to assess the crisis appropriately and to take emergent decisions. If the leader fails to respond effectively in any phase of the plan then the chances for the success of the plan are significantly re duced (Rothwell et al., 2009). The potential practices of managers for developing effective strategies are presented in the graph in Figure 1 (Appendices). According to the above, the strategy of change implemented in the business reviewed in this paper cannot be characterized as fully effective. At a first level, the restaurant’s manager has accepted that he had not experience on such plans. Then, when employees started to have concerns on their replacement during their absence for the seminars no clear answer was given to them. No particular program has been developed for arranging the changing of swifts during the training program. Rather, swift arrangements were made daily, in the beginning of the swift and with reference to the other day. In this way, if an employee would not be able to replace a colleague as a result of an unexpected event, then the staff’s left in the restaurant would not be adequate for covering the tasks required. On the other fact, all employ ees have welcomed the re-distribution of tasks and the arrangement of meetings with the HR consultant. Due to these practices the restaurant’s efforts to promote change have faced minimum resistance from employees. 2.3 Evaluation of how the cooperation of stakeholders has been ensured In the change plan implemented in the business under examination the cooperation of stakeholders has been attempted by using two motives: one monetary and the other non-monetary. Indeed, at a primary level efforts have been made so employees do not feel as suffering losses due to their participation in the OD plan of the organisation. In fact, employees are compensated normally without their participation in the training program to reduce their daily income. Moreover, a non-monetary motive has been used by the employer in order to ensure that employees would not feel as threatened by the change efforts: employees have the chance to discuss with the HR consultant in regard to the changes in their duties but also in regard to their needs and weaknesses as of the tasks assigned to them daily. In this way, the change plan becomes for employees a chance for self-development and not a cause for potential losses. The effectiveness of this approach could be decided by referring to the respon ses of employees to the plan of change but also to their views as of the particular organisational initiative. After the end of the training program a survey was conducted within the business. Employees had to state their view on the OD plan so far and to make suggestions for potential improvements of the plan. The findings of the survey seem to be quite satisfactory: about 73% of employees are convinced for the plan’s necessity while 68% of employees agree that the chosen approaches for promoting change have been appropriate. However, there is also a percentage 32% of employees that would prefer to wait for a particular period of time before developing an opinion for the plan’s effectiveness. The literature developed in this field offers the chance to understand the role of stakeholders in the organisational development but also the need to secure their participation in any organisational change plan. For Grieves (2010) stakeholders would be willing to support the OD of a business only in the following case: that they would be given the chance to share their knowledge/ resources with the organisation. For example, customers would be supportive to an organisation’s effort to improve its services by giving to customers the potential for a feedback (Grieves, 2010). The provision of free Internet within a restaurant so that customers can check the daily menu and state their view on their food on real-time would be another scheme for increasing the customers’ interest towards the business involved. From another point of view, Schabracq (2009) explained that the efforts for securing the stakeholders’ support in a plan of change should be based on criteria of hierarchy: emphasis should be given primarily to the members of the organisation as ‘those who are interested mostly for the organisation’s success’ (Schabracq, 2009: 23). However, Roberts notes that when being in front of a plan of change the employees of a business are likely to react primarily with ‘cynicism and skepticism’ (2014: 58). If checked using the literature mentioned above, the approach of the manager to secure the support of stakeholders can be characterized as successful. However, this view would refer only to a particular category of stakeholders: employees. For other categories, including customers and community valid view could be formulated after a period of time, such as 6 months, and after checking the business performance in practice. For example, if 6 months after the number of customers’ complaints would continue to increase then the alteration of the OD plan of the business would be unavoidable. In other words, the business has emphasized just on its close stakeholders, probably believing that in this way direct benefits could be achieved. For the stakeholders of the business that are outside of the internal organisational environment (Figure 2) the relevant measures would take long to show their benefits, a view that can be considered as partially justified. 3.0 Conclusion The implementation of a change plan in the business under review has been considered as the only way to achieve organisational development (OD). However, the change plan introduced has not been carefully designed. The fact that emphasis has been given to employees can be considered as justified since employees are those directly affected by the organisational performance and those that can mostly prevent the success of such plan (Oswick, 2013). However, the failure of the business to address the needs of other stakeholders can be considered as a major issue (Idris et al., 2014). In addition, signs of improvement of the daily performance of business have appeared but this benefit has been achieved employing higher investment than estimated (Barnard and Stoll, 2010). Of course, the efforts of a business to promote change should not be too dynamic. In this case the chance for the negative responses of the stakeholders is high (Hashim, 2014). In regard to this issue it has been noted tha t the opposition of stakeholders to a change plan is likely to become ‘stronger as the time passes’ (Roberts 2014; 58). For eliminating such risk the managers of GM have preferred to follow Lewin’s plan of change (Figure 3), which highlights the value of slow steps in the implementation of change in each organisation. The manager in the business under examination seemed to have preferred a similar approach. Despite this fact, the alteration of the strategy implemented as certain of its parts would result to the increase of the strategy’s effectiveness. 4.0 Recommendations The strategy of change implemented in the business under review should be improved at the following points: a) customers should be given the chance to evaluate the business performance and to make their recommendations in regard to the progress of change, as applied in the business; for example, a customer-feedback leaflet should be available in the restaurant; b) the website of the restaurant should be appropriately customized so that the following option is available to customers: customers should be given the potential to vote online for the restaurant’s menu, making their choices as their preferences. The results would be evaluated by the firm’s manager on a weekly basis so that drawbacks of the menu are addressed. In other words, customers should be given a more active role in the improvement of organisation’s performance. The specific approach however would require the transformation of the business culture which is more aligned with the interests of its cl osest stakeholders, i.e. its members, a practice that it is not always considered as negative (Schabracq, 2009); c) also, a supervision scheme should be developed for ensuring that the phases of the strategy of change are sufficiently monitored as in all of their elements. This measure would be aligned with the suggestions made by Griffith-Cooper and King (2007) in regard to the importance of control in the organisational change (Figure 4). 5.0 Bibliography Anderson, D., 2013. Organisation Development: The Process of Leading Organisational Change. London: SAGE. Asghar, Z., 2011. New Approach to Strategic Planning: the Impact of Leadership and Culture on Plan Implantation via the three Cs: Cooperation, Collaboration and Coordination. ASBBS Annual Conference: Las Vegas, February 2011, pp.1121-1132. Available at . [Accessed 12 November 2014]. Barnard, M. and Stoll, N., 2010. Organisational Change Management: A rapid literature review. Short Policy Report No 10/01. Bristol Institute of Public Affairs, pp.1-11. Available at . [Accessed 12 November 2014]. Boatright, J.2006. What’s Wrong—and What’s Right— with Stakeholder Management. Journal of Private Enterprise, 21(2), pp.106-131. Boonstra, J., 2008. Dynamics of Organisational Change and Learning. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Bradford, D. and Burke, W., 2005. Reinventing Organisation Development: New Approaches to Change in Organisations. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Conrad, C. and Poole, M., 2012. Strategic Organisational Communication: In a Global Economy. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Cummings, T. and Worley, C., 2014. Organisation Development and Change. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Fairholm, M., 2009. Leadership and Organisational Strategy. The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal, 14(1), pp.1-16. Freedman, A., 2011. Using Action Learning for Organisation Development and Change. OD Practitioner, 43(2), pp.7-13. Griffin, R. and Moorhead, G., 2009. Organisational Behavior: Managing People and Organisations. 9th ed. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Hashim, M., 2014. Organisational change: case study of GM (General Motors). Journal of Business Administration and Management Sciences Research, 3(1), pp.1-5. Hendrickson, S. and Gray, E., 2012. Legitimizing Resistance to Organisational Change: A Social Work Social Justice Perspective. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2(5), pp.50-59. Griffith-Cooper, B. and King, K., 2007. The partnership between project management and organisational change: integrating change management with change leadership. Performance Improvement, 46(1), pp.14-20. Idris, K., Adekalu, S. and Genty, K., 2014. Organisation Development and Strategic Intervention for Enterprise Sustainability: Empirical Evidence from Nigeria. British Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 16(11), pp.156-171. Kaplan, R. and Norton, D., 2001. Building a Strategy – Focused Organisation. Ivey Business Journal, May/June 2001. Available at [Accessed 12 November 2014]. Kotter, J. and Schlesinger, L., 2008. Choosing Strategies for Change. Harvard Business Review, July/ August 2008, pp.1-10. Lunenburg, F., 2010. Organisational Development: Implementing Planned Change. International Journal of Management, Business and Administration, 13(1), pp.1-9. Oswick, C., 2013. Reflections: OD or Not OD that is the Question! A Constructivist’s Thoughts on the Changing Nature of Change. Journal of Change Management, 13(4), pp.371-381. Maimunah, I., 2009. Corporate Social Responsibility and its role in community development: An international perspective. The Journal of International Social Research, 2(9), pp.200-209. Nordin, E., 2014. Communicating Organisational Change: Strategies for Communicating Change. The Clute Institute. International Academic Conference, San Antonio, Texas, USA, pp.135-145. Available at . [Accessed 12 November 2014]. Pasmore, W., Woodman, R., Noumair, D. and Shani, A., 2013. Research in Organisational Change and Development. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing. Roberts, G., 2014. Servant Leader Human Resource Management: A Moral and Spiritual Perspective. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Rothwell, W., Stavros, J., Sullivan, R. and Sullivan, A., 2009. Practicing Organisation Development: A Guide for Leading Change. 3rd ed. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Samson, D. and Bevington, T., 2012. Implementing Strategic Change: Managing Processes and Interfaces to Develop a Highly Productive Organisation. London: Kogan Publishers. Schabracq, M., 2009. Changing Organisational Culture: The Change Agent’s Guidebook. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons. Wu, M., 2012. Managing Stakeholders: An Integrative Perspective on the Source of Competitive Advantage. Asian Social Science, 8(10), pp.160-172. Yaeger, T. and Sorensen, P., 2009. Strategic Organisation Development: Managing Change for Success. Charlotte: IAP Publishing. Yilmaz, B. and Gunel, O., 2009. The Importance of Strategic Stakeholder Management in Tourism Sector: Research on Probable Applications. TOURISMOS: AN INTERNATIONAL MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF TOURISM, 4(1), pp.97-108.

HVDC Light Technology Essay

Abstract—This document reveals theHVDC Light DC transmission technology.It is used in underground transmission and moreover provides point to point transmission.HVDC Light requires only two elements namely a converter station and a pair of ground cables. The new HVDC Light cable is an extruded, single-pole cable. It is ideally suited for feeding power into growing metropolitan areas from a suburban substation. HVDC Light is inherent environmentally friendly cables instead of OH transmission lines. Virtually no magnetic field. The environmental gains would be substantial, since the power supplied via the DC cables will be transmitted from efficient power plants in the main AC grid. 1. INTRODUCTION A hundred years ago, the transformer and a new transmission and distributionbe controlled precisely and independentlycan replace overhead lines at no costcontrol capabilities that are not present oreconomically feasible to connect smallscale,Equally important, HVDC Light hasfor inefficient, polluting local generationfrequency, active and reactive power canislands, mining districts and drillingloads from a main AC-gridof each other. This technology also relieson a new type of underground cable which penalty platforms can be supplied with power frompossible even in the most sophisticated ACrenewable power generation. Renewable power generation plantssuch as diesel units. The voltage, . Connect small scale Feeding remote isolated Flexible transmission System technology, HVDC Light, makes it the main grid,thereby eliminating the needto the main AC grid. Vice versa,using thevery same technology, remote locations asthe three phase system made it possible totransmit AC power efficiently and economically over vast distances and todistributethe power toamultitude ofusers.Since then all aspects of transmission anddistribution have developed by means oftechnical improvement and evolution. This AC transmission and distributiontechnology has made it possible to locategeneratingplants in optimum locations, andtoutilize them efficiently. This has alsoresulted in great environmental gains.Thermal plants have been located wherethey can be supplied with fuel through anefficient transportation system, therebyreducing waste and pollution. Hydro plantshave been located where the hydroresources can be used at the greatestadvantage. And large generating plantshave meant fewer overhead lines than amultitude of smaller generating plantswould have required.However, today’s AC transmission anddistribution systems are, at least inprinciple, based on ideas that haven’tchanged much since a hundred years ago. To transmit power, step up the voltage withtransformers, transmit power, step downthe voltage and distribute power. Despitetheir proven advantages, it is difficult andexpensive to adapt AC transmission anddistribution systems to the numerous smallscalegenerating plants that are being built,or to the increasingly complex and variableproduction and load demands.Environmental concerns and regulationsalso put heavy restrictions on building right-of-ways and on small-scale, fossilfuelledgenerating plants, such as dieselgenerating plants.These new trends require networks that areflexible. The networks must be able to copewith large variations in load and frequentchanges in productions patterns with tougher environmental regulations.Also, in such flexible networks, the powerflow and the voltages require precisecontrol in order to make the grids stable and economic. 2. TECHNOLOGY As its name implies, HVDC Light is a DCtransmission technology. However, it isdifferent from the classic HVDCtechnology used in a large number oftransmission schemes. Classic HVDCtechnology is mostly used for large point-to-point transmissions, often over vastdistances across land or under water. It requires fast communications channelsbetween the two stations, and there mustbe large rotating units – generators orsynchronous condensers – present in theAC networks at both ends of thetransmission. HVDC Light consists of only two elements: a converter station and a pair ofground cables. The converters are voltagesource converters, VSC’s. The output from the VSCare determined by the controlsystem, which does not require anycommunications links between the differentconverter stations. Also, they don’t need torely on the AC network’s ability to keepthe voltage and frequency stable. Thesefeatures make it possible to connect theconverters to the points bests suited for theAC system as a whole. Power range up to 100 MW Independent control of active and reactive power Can feed power to AC network without ownGeneration DC The converter station is designed for apower range of 1-100 MW and for a DCvoltage in the 10-100 kV range. One suchstation occupies an area of less than 250sq. m. (2 700 sq. ft.), and consists ofjust a few elements: two containers for theconverters and the control system, threesmall AC air-core reactors, a simpleharmonics filter and some cooling fans. 20MW:18x12m The converters are using a set of six valves,two for each phase, equipped with highpowertransistors, IGBT (Insulated GateBipolar Transistor). The valves arecontrolled by a computerized controlsystem by pulse width modulation, PWM.Since the IGBTs can be switched on or off, the output voltages and currents onthe AC side can be controlled precisely.The control system automatically adjuststhe voltage, frequency and flow of activeand reactive power according to the needsof the AC system.The PWM technology has been tried andtested for two decades in switched powersupplies for electronic equipment ascomputers. Due to the new, high powerIGBTs, the PWM technology can now beused for high power applications as electricpower transmission.HVDC Light can be used with regularoverhead transmission lines, but it reachesits full potential when used with a new kindof DC cable. The new HVDC Light cable isan extruded, single-pole cable. As anexample a pair of cables with a conductorof 95 sq mm aluminum can carry a load of30 MW at a DC voltage of +/-100KV.Handling the cable is easy. Despite its large power-carrying capacityit has a specific weight of just over 1 kg/m.Contrary to the case with AC transmission;distance is not the factor that determinesthe line voltage. The only limit is the costof the line losses, which may be lowered bychoosing a cable with a conductor with alarger cross section. Thus, the cost of apair of DC cables is linear with distance. Insulation: 5.5 mm triple extruded Screen: Copper wire Sheath: HDPE Weight: 1.05 kg/m Voltage: > 100 kV DC Current: > 300 A Power: > 30 MW Conductor: 95 mm^2Aluminum A DC cable connection could be more costefficientthan even a medium distance ACoverhead line, or local generating unitssuch as diesel generators.The converter stations can be used indifferent grid configurations. A singlestation can connect a DC load or generatingunit, such as a photo-voltaic power plant,with an AC grid. Two converter stationsand a pair of cables make a point-to pointDC transmission with AC connections ateach end. Three or more converter stationsmake up a DC grid that can be connected toone or more points in the AC grid or todifferent AC grids. An HVDCLight network can be configured radial or meshed,like any network. The DC grids can be radial with multi-dropconverters, meshed or a combination ofboth. In other words, they can beconfigured, changed and expanded in muchthe same way AC grids are. 3. APPLICATIONS 3.1 OVERHEAD LINES In general, it is getting increasingly difficultto build overhead lines. Overhead lineschange the landscape, and the constructionof new lines is often met by public resentment and political resistance. Peopleare often concerned about the possiblehealth hazards of living close to overheadlines. In addition, a right-of-way for a high voltage line occupant valuable land. Theprocess of obtaining permissions forbuilding new overhead lines is alsobecoming time-consuming and expensive.Laying an underground cable is a mucheasier process than building an overheadline. A cable doesn’t change the landscapeand it doesn’t need a wide right-of-way.Cables are rarely met with any publicopposition, and the electromagnetic fieldfrom a DC cable pair is very low, and also astatic field. Usually, the process ofobtaining the rights for laying anunderground cable is much easier, quickerand cheaper than for an overhead line.A pair of HVDC Light cables can beplowed into the ground. Despite their largepower capacity, they can be put in placewith the same equipment as ordinary, AChigh voltage distribution cables. Thus,HVDC Light is ideally suited for feedingpower into growing metropolitan areasfrom a suburban substation. 3.2 REPLACING LOCAL GENERATION Remote locations often need localgeneration if they are situated far awayfrom an AC grid. The distance to the gridmakes it technically or economicallyunfeasible to connect the area to the maingrid. Such remote locations may be islands,mining areas, gas and oil fields or drillingplatforms. Sometimes the local generators use gas turbines, but diesel generators aremuch more common.An HVDC Light cable connection could bea better choice than building a local powerplant based on fossil fuels. Theenvironmental gains would be substantial,since the power supplied via the DC cableswill be transmitted from efficient powerplants in the main AC grid. Also, thepollution and noise produced when thediesel fuel is transported will be completelyeliminated by an HVDC line, as the needfor frequent maintenance of the diesels.Since the cost of building an HVDC Lightline is a linear function of the distance, abreak-even might be reached for as shortdistances as 50- 60 km. HVDC Light lowest cost AC + Overhead line HVDC Light + cable Cost inside AC grid Distance from the AC grid eliminate local diesel Cost/kWh 3.3 CONNECTING POWER GRIDS Renewable power sources are often builtfrom scratch, beginning on a small scaleand gradually expanded. Wind turbine farms is the typical case, but this is alsotrue for photovoltaic power generation.These power sources are usually locatedwhere the conditions are particularlyfavorable, often far away from the mainAC network. At the beginning, such aslowly expanding energy resource cannotsupply a remote community with enoughpower. An HVDC Light link could be anideal solution in such cases.First, the link could supply the communitywith power from the main AC grid,eliminating the need for local generation.The HVDC Light link could also supply thewind turbine farm with reactive power for the generators, and keeping the powerfrequency stable.When the power output from the windgenerators grows as more units are added,they may supply the community with asubstantial share of its power needs. Whenthe output exceeds the needs of theCommunity, the power flow on the HVDCLight link is reversed automatically, and thesurplus power is transmitted to the mainAC grid. Wind power Small scale hydropower HVDC Light Extruded cable Distant ac- grid Waste gas is usually burned at offshoredrillingplatforms, since it is too expensive,or technically difficult, to use the gas for power generation and transmit it by an ACcable to the main grid on the shore. Thus,the energy content of the gas is wasted, andthe primitive burning process is source ofpollution. With an HVDC Lightunderwater cable transmission, the gas canbe used as gas turbine fuel, supplying boththe platform and the main AC grid withpower. The process of burning the gas ingas turbines would also produce much acleaner exhaust than simple burning woulddo.The DC underwater cable network could easily be extended to other offshoreplatforms. 3.4 ASYNCRONOUS LINKS Two AC grids, adjacent to each other butrunning asynchronously with respect toeach other, cannot exchange any powerbetween each other. If there is a surplus ofgenerating capacity in one of the grids itcannot be utilized in the other grid. Each ofthe networks must have its own capacity of peak power generation, usually in the formof older, inefficient fuel fossil plants, ordiesel or gas turbine units. Thus, peakpower generation is often a source ofsubstantial pollution, and their fueleconomy is frequently bad.A DC link, connecting two such networks,can be used for combining the generationcapacities of both networks. Cheap surpluspower from one network can replace peakpower generation in the other. This willresult in both reduced pollution levels andincreased fuel economy. The powerexchange between the networks is alsovery easy to measure accurately. 4. ADVANTAGES * Transmission by HVDC Light saves the environment by replacing local fossil-fueled generation withtransmission from main AC-grid. * Connecting small scale renewable power to main AC –grid. * HVDC Light is inherent environmentally friendlycables instead of OH transmission lines. * Virtually no magnetic field. * No ground currents because of bipolar transmission. 5. CONCLUSION HVDC Light technology saves theenvironment by replacing remote fossilfuelledgenerators with cost-efficienttransmission of power from efficient andclean, large-scale generation productionunits. The efficiency of a modern, largescale, thermal generating plant is usually 25percent higher than that for a modernsmall or moderate scale diesel generatorplant,Vice versa, HVDC Light provides aconvenient and cost-effective way forconnecting renewable and non-pollutingenergy sources as wind power farms andphotovoltaic power plants to a main grid.The HVDC Light technology in itself hasstrong environmental benefits. Since poweris transmitted via a pair of underground cables, the electromagnetic fields from thecables cancel each other. Any residual fieldis a static field, as opposed to the powerfrequencyfields radiated from AC cables.Since HVDC Light transmissions arebipolar, they do not inject any currents intothe ground. Ground currents can disturbcommunications systems or causecorrosion on gas or oil pipelines.A pair of light-weight DC cables can beeasily plodded into the ground at a costthat is comparable to or less than for acorresponding AC overhead line. Asopposed to an overhead line, anunderground cable pair has no visualimpact at all on the landscape. Usually it’salso much easier to obtain permissions andpublic approval for a cable transmissionthan for an overhead line, especially inresidential areas. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Our sincere thanks to HOD and FACULTIES for encouraging us to prepare the above document. A special thanks to IEEE.org REFERNCES [1] K. Eriksson, â€Å"HVDC Lightâ„ ¢ and development of Voltage SourceConverters†, IEEE T&D 2002 Latin America, Sà £o Paulo, Brazil, March. [2] L. Carlsson, G. Asplund, H. Bjà ¶rklund, M. Ã…berg, â€Å"Present trends inHVDC converter station design† IV SEPOPE Conference, Foz doIguacu, Brazil. [3]IEEE explorer.org

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Career Plan building Activity

My work culture results showed that I am well resourced, high powered, and teamwork centered. I noticed that these results were parallel with my interest profiler and competencies results. I was shocked by being considered as high powered. I have never really been a person who wants a lot of responsibility. I have been a lead person on a past Job experience. I had the opportunity to be the supervisor but I didn't apply for it due to fear of failure.I do on the other hand agree with the fact of high salaries, career advancement, and career development. It was revealed to me that some of my better strengths are adhering to values and coping with pressure. It was not hard for me to believe the part about adhering to my values. That is something I do believe in along with ethics. But I didn't think that coping with pressure would come out as a strength. I guess coping with pressure became a strength for me because I try my hardest to let something's go and not let people now that it may have bothered me.Within the teamwork centered portion of the work culture results, It showed that I work in a close knit team, have lots of Interdependence, and that I am friendly and supportive of colleagues. I agree with this whole heartedly. I try to be an overall helpful person. Anyone who knows me knows that I am all for the team, if there Is positivist involved. Within the well-resourced section it stated that I like safe places to work, well-designed and comfortable places to work.As for the career plan I was able to see different positions that may suite me according to the results. Some of the careers I never would imagine doing then on the other hand there are some that I would do. These things include being a lawyer, Judge, librarian, curator, archivists, material recording, and scheduling, dispatching and distributing workers. Now some of these careers I did all In one Job title when I was a Lead Phlebotomy's at a hospital I once worked at.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Homeostasis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Homeostasis - Essay Example A natural process in which certain characteristics are transmitted from parents to off springs. The transmission of these characteristics from parents to off springs depends on the genetic makeup of parents (Cummings,8). Any abnormality in the genetic machinery will lead to abnormal products and thus abnormal characteristics. Regarding the mode, in case of abnormality in the genetic machinery in the parents, the transmission of defeat is subject to abnormality in parents. Autosomal includes autosomal dominant and autosomal recessive. The second is dominant and recessive. Further these patterns of inheritance depends on the defective genetic material transmission through sex chromosomes. Autosomal chromosomes (each individual has 23 pair chromosomes, 22 pairs being autosomal and 1 pair of sex chromosome (Russo et.al,579). Trineucleotide repeat disorders: Most of these genetic disorders present in young and middle age individuals. Prognosis of individuals with genetic disease on the basis of age factor. The question that genetic diseases in young population are more lethal than being in elderly population, the aggressiveness of a genetic disease depends on the following factors,which will be even explained with examples. First is mode of inheritance. Second is age. Third is severity and nature of individual genetic disease. Fourth is Phenomenon of anticipation. Fifth is complications developed as a result of genetic diseases. Thalassemia, a blood disorder, in which there is a genetic defect and leads to abnormal gene formation resulting in an abnormal beta-Globin protein, a component of the oxygen carrying molecule hemoglobin. Depending on the number of genetic mutations, the corresponding number of globin chains are being abnormal, resulting in abnormal hemoglobin formation, ranging from a single globin gene

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Cost Report for the Average Physical Education teachers Salary Essay

Cost Report for the Average Physical Education teachers Salary - Essay Example Teacher salary follows a strict clustering system, which ensures that every teacher receives a pay commensurate to his or her duties. The cost of an average teacher in the state of Georgia is $ 74,985.07; this is the sum of a basic teacher salary and a number of other benefits, which make the career more attractive. The American government has a set minimum wage for every employee in the country, a feature that protects every citizen from exploitation by employers. The minimum wage in the state of Georgia is $ 20,000 implying that teacher salary is above the minimum wage and therefore conscious of the economic factors in the country. Among the common benefits that teachers enjoy are health insurance, medical insurance, social security, and workman’s compensation insurance. These benefits also vary depending on the nature of a teacher’s responsibilities in the school. The United States of America is a developed country and the government strives to provide the basic life support features in every region thereby dispelling the need for hardship allowances. The table below breaks down the teacher salaries in the state of Georgia: Average teacher cost Pay schedule $ 52,852.32 Local supplement $ 4,447.68 Health insurance $ 10,619.98 FICA $ 830.85 TRS $ 5,890.44 Total teacher salary $ 74,985.07 The additional costs such as the health insurance and the social security contribution all apply in form of uniform percentages of the scheduled pay. This implies that a teacher with a higher basic salary receives larger additional benefits thus validating the salary disparities among the teachers. The salary tabulation above refers to that of an average teacher in the state of Georgia and is therefore applicable to the physical education teacher at Alcovy High School, which is in the Newton county school management system. This therefore exempts Alcovy High School from paying its teachers the social security’s benefits. This way, after paying the teacher their basic remuneration of $52,852.23, the school will further pay the teachers an additional $17,685.07 in benefits thus resulting in a total of $74,985.07, which therefore becomes the cost of an average physical education’s teacher at the facility. There are different sources for this money, teachers are civil servants and therefore paid by the government. However, the school and its other related school systems and state departments also have a prerogative for paying teachers owing to their roles in the subsequent positions. Teachers have their entitlement depending on the nature of their assignments at the facility. The school for example must consider its teacher student ration to ensure that it does not overwork its teachers. The state for example pays every teacher $47,957.59 out of the total $74,985.07, which is the actual cost of every teacher. This implies that the rest of the funding comes for the subsequent systems and departments. In this context, the state send s this money to the Newton county school system. The system and the department thus pay every teacher the additional $27,093.01 to make the figure complete. However, teachers just as the rest of civil servants remit their taxes to the government. This therefore reduces the cost of hiring a teacher, since it is the same government paying the teachers and accepting their tax remittance.

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Comapring with life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Comapring with life - Essay Example Discrimination becomes an ugly word especially when it is associated to race or color. We continuously wonder why such difference in skin color or genes would merit a severe consequence. Discrimination in any form teaches us that the value or quality of an individual lies in the physical or the material not by his virtue or ability, that those who are deemed inferior because of the standards that popular culture or society has set deserve less which unfortunately mean cruelty and animosity. Science has always purported that man is of one kind, one species. There are no other breeds, no other classifications, no subdivisions. Any man is a man in his essential or universal form or nature, sub specie aeternitatis. Furthermore, diversity does not necessarily mean inequality. In the face of such injustice, man must at all times take action. Inasmuch as we openly celebrate whatever is good and beautiful, humankind must also earnestly articulate resistance for injustice and evil. We can be patient in the pursuit of our dreams but not in the search for justice. This has been proverbially expressed as "justice too long delayed is justice denied. Those who are oppressed must rise or must be lifted from the dark dungeons of complacency." (King, Jr.) These actions have taken various names as well resistance, strike, campaign, direct action, protest, which in legalistic term is freedom of expression. As King stated, steps have to be taken to bring these evils in the open, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured, the same way boils must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light. Then again, people have differing opinions on what should be done and how it is to be done. Those in opposition are often accused of unreasonable impatient dissatisfaction. Thus, man grapples whether those in authority are flawed or those who react are just simply dissatisfied. Subsequently, they are cautioned to practice sobriety. The so-called peacekeepers say "Wait!" and this, in the long run, would mean "delay" or "never". (King, JR) However, our conscience dictates that spectators, those who are not in the face of suffering are not in the proper position to judge those who suffer. According to King, "We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." which gives man more reason to take direct and immediate action. Then, man must always take caution in all his actions, lest he ends up breaking the law and bring about anarchy. At all times must he upheld what is both legal and moral. Reason dictates that all conflicts must be taken to the courts but many times people would question the infallibility of our courts. Moreover, is legality always equivalent to morality The line must be drawn, especially in matters of opinion, especially when opinion matters. Does the law apply to all How do we establish morality in a multicultural world Practically, the root of all these things is differences and these differences have been a constant challenge to man, something that he must always try to reconcile with and understand. Taking things to a higher plane, reconciliation, compromise, tolerance, empathy, and compassion might turn up to be the better answers to the issue of discrimination and conflict. We must realize that we should always choose

Friday, July 26, 2019

Representations of Love Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Representations of Love - Essay Example This essay compares and contrasts Shakespeare's ideas about love in three of his most popular plays, Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night. The play Midsummer night's dream revolves around the fundamental difficulties of love. Through out the play this universal concept has been discussed through the effective use of contrast. Shakespeare has used symbolism to develop his ideas in the play and to present a fair view regarding the theme. In Act I, scene I Theseus and Hippolyta discuss their wedding which is to scheduled in four days, from here the story begins and the play gradually describes the ideas of love and the magical powers of dreams. Shakespeare presents his personal views on love with the help of this play. An analysis of the play points out that Shakespeare was of the view that although love is a beautiful emotion cherished by all individuals but finding love is the hardest of all as an individual has to face a lot of tension and stress to find love. The central idea of the play is to prove that a childish love, which is known as teenage love, is foolish in nature. He has included four central characters in the play which are young children who fall in love with the young girls. Eventually at the end of the play, they discover their foolishness. William successfully conveyed his message that teenage love is slightly foolish in nature. The other play under scrutiny is the Twelfth Night which is most simply put is a story of cross dressing and mistaken identity. It is filled with sexual tension between characters and poetic words on love. Twelfth Night is nearly as much a study of service and master-servant relations as it is a comedy of romantic love. The relationships and tensions between lovers are clearly discernible in the play's manifold variations. Viola's status as Orsino's servant is the condition of possibility and impossibility of her love for him and also of Olivia's erotic desire for her as Cesario; Orsino himself embodies courtly infatuation as a form of service in his dotage on Olivia; Malvolio exemplifies, Sonnet-like, the servant's fantasy of social elevation through erotic conquest; Antonio's homoerotic affection for Sebastian restates in a different key courtly devotion to the belove. O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou, That notwithstanding thy capacity Receiveth as the sea, naught enters there, Of what validity and pitch so'er, But falls into abatement and low price Even in a minute. (1.1.9-14) Orsino's opening meditation on his unrequited love for Olivia encompasses some of the most famous lines and images in the whole Shakespeare canon. The lines also identify the major themes and concerns of Twelfth Night. In the lines above, the references to love and to the sea encompass elements that will resound throughout the action of the play. Orsino compares the capacity of love to the capacity of the ocean in its ability to be. The third play is the Merchant of Venice which centers on the struggle between Portia and Antonio for Bassanio's affection, or the competition between friendship and marriage. In the Elizabethan context Antonio and Bassanio's relationship does not

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Domestic Violence Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Domestic Violence - Annotated Bibliography Example The other myth is that males cannot be victims of domestic violence. It is not true, though. These myths (and others) have to be demolished for creating full picture of the problem in its modern condition. There is a number of researches attempting to discover the causes of domestic violence. For instance, specialists of a Domestic Violence Intervention Project consider the cases and repeating cycles of domestic violence to be a result of a desire to establish control over the victim. The main factor of a man’s aggressive behavior is the denial of responsibility for the committed actions. Another theory, known as the theory of resistance, was offered by Allan Jenkinson, an American psychologist. He believes that social factors and personal features of a person may turn into obstacles which would not let a person treat women and children with respect. Among them there are traditions, cultural peculiarities, personal habits, values, and so on. According to this theory, reasons of aggressive behavior lie in a person’s concept of the self and the world around. There are potent methods of counterwork against domestic violence, such as effective laws and police procedures, educational and therapy programs for abusers, shelters for victims, public information campaigns for prevention of domestic violence, etc. Eventually the supreme goal of any research dealing with domestic violence is some proposition or learning of methods against domestic

John B. Watson and Behaviorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

John B. Watson and Behaviorism - Essay Example This essay explains how Watson's work and ideas are different from those of who came before and after him, his contributions to psychology and the relevance of his work. It also looks at the applications of his psychological theory and the treatment methods that have been created from behaviorism. Watson used animal subjects to study behavior before later turning to the study of human behaviors and emotions. Most notably was his "Little Albert" study where he modified the boy's behavior through conditioning (Hothersall, 1995). He used the little boy Albert to test his behaviorist theory. He determined that white, furry objects, such as cotton, did not produce any negative reaction in the baby. But by pairing together a neutral stimulus such as white, furry objects with an unconditioned stimulus such as a very loud noise that elicited an unconditioned response such as fear, he was able to create a new stimulus-response link after several repetitions. Thus when Albert saw white, furry objects, he responded by becoming terrified. This conditioned fear was then shown to generalize to other white furry objects, including feathers and white hair or beards (Hothersall, 1995). Those psychologists who came before Watson such as Thorndike and Sigmund Freud held a totally different view. Sigmund Freud for instance often received harsh criticism from Watson due to his Freudian psychoanalysis theory (Hothersall, 1995). His work on the other hand influenced the modern behaviorists who "believe that all learning is simply conditioning, and that the conditioned response is the true unit of learned behavior." In fact, Watson was an important contributor to classical behaviorism, who paved the way for B. F. Skinner's radical or operant behaviorism, which is pivotal on modern educational systems (Hothersall, 1995). Even Ian Pavlov borrowed very much from Watson in conditioning his dogs. His contributions to psychology Many of the concepts and principles are still widely used today borrows heavily from behaviorism which dominates psychology. In fact, conditioning and behavior modification are still widely used in therapy and behavioral training to help clients change problematic behaviors and develop new skills (Hothersall, 1995). Obviously anyone who wants to manipulate others and compel them to do their bidding particularly governments and intelligence organizations uses the behaviorist theory. In fact, these two groups have spent the most money and the most time experimenting with the subject of behavioral psychology (Hothersall, 1995). Whether or not his work is still used in the field Watson's work is very evident even today. Modern behaviorists believe that their behavioral psychology have greatly influenced the field of educational psychology throughout the twentieth century. Accordingly, the process of education has been perceived in terms of such behavioral concepts as conditioning, reward and punishment as well as behavioral outcomes (Hothersall, 1995). Also, teaching methods have been devised with a view to rewarding desirable learning behavior with most educational aims being formulated in terms of conditioning human beings for desired purposes and behavioral outcome

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

A Communist Manifesto and Social Movements Essay

A Communist Manifesto and Social Movements - Essay Example Generally speaking, Marx set forth a theory in which conflict, or class struggle, was both caused and perpetuated by a division of individuals into a bourgeois group and a proletarian group. The bourgeois controlled the means of production in a capitalist system and the proletariat functioned as labor for wages. In this way, still speaking generally, the bourgeois were in possession of wealth and resources and the proletariat, wages aside were largely powerless and dispossessed. Marx refined this general model by characterizing a variety of social and economic relationships according to this framework; indeed, attempting to emphasize the pervasive nature of this bourgeoise-proletariat divide, he stated that, Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes (Marx, 1848: np). Thus, Marx viewed the social forces driving societies towards a proletarian revolution as being essentially twofold. ... an initial matter, from a historical point of view, Marx did credit the bourgeois with aiding in the downfall of the old feudal classes; on the other hand, he characterized this development as predictable and as a temporary ascension to power.

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Persuasive Narrative in Rhetoric Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Persuasive Narrative in Rhetoric - Essay Example There are three main principles of narrative analysis. They are the principle of succession, principle of transformation, and the principle of mediation. The paper will use these principles in explaining the persuasive use of narrative rhetoric in Obama’s inaugural speech. Rhetoric is this case is the aspect of speaking effectively. The paper will also use narrative rationality to explain the persuasive effect of narrative in rhetoric. This paper will considerably focus on patho, logos, ethos, and their individual effect on persuasion in regards to narrative rational. Pathos, logos, and ethos are the three pillars of public speaking. They are the rhetoric styles of persuasion. I will use examples from the Obama inaugural speech to illustrate each of these points. The paper will then draw an informed conclusion on persuasive use of narrative in rhetoric. The Principle of succession is present in Obama’s inaugural speech. The Principle of succession relies on time and cha nge to explain the meaning of the sequential arrangement of objects, elements, and incidents in a narrative (Scharf, 2003). Everything is in time. Stage for the speech was perfectly set in front of building constructed by black slaves. The speech is filled by words signifying sequential events, â€Å"I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors† (New York Times, 2009). These words seek to persuade the audience on his concern for the job at hand. The use of incidents like rising tides, still waters, clouds, and ranging storms is also sequential. They seek to persuade the audience that things and situations change with time and hence they should brace themselves for that change. Additionally, the use of incidents like the abandonment in the capital, when the enemy was advancing and the staining of the snow with blood, play a major role in persuading the audience that their history ha s not been good and hence the need to change it. This principle consequently leads to the principle of transformation. The principle of transformation relies on unities to define patterns that signify change in state of mind or state of affairs and hence defining the beginnings and endings. There is massive use of this principle in Obama’s inaugural speech. The phrase, â€Å"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America† (New York Times, 2009) signify change in the state of affairs. These words seek to persuade the audience that it is time to act towards good for America. Other words that signify change of state of mind are, â€Å"Our capacity remains undiminished, but our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions† (New York Times, 2009). These too persuade the audience that change is irresistible at this time. It marks the beginning of putting off unple asant decisions and the end of protecting narrow interests. Moreover, from the energy in his words and the applause that he receives it is sure that Obama and the American people are ready for this change and hence the eminent success in narrative persuasion. This principle additionally leads to the principle of mediation. The principle of mediation relies on desire and ability to get a better understanding of the environment hence

Monday, July 22, 2019

Ellie Enterprises - Deloitte Audit Case Essay Example for Free

Ellie Enterprises Deloitte Audit Case Essay Alternative Investments Among the five funds, three of the funds, Cloudy Retirement 500 Index, Cloudy High-Yield Hedge Strategies, and Cloudy Real Estate All starts, are alternative investments. Those three funds, as the case states, are not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 or under the Securities Act of 1933. Thus, they are not offered to the investing public or are not been required to offer significant information to public. Moreover, the investment product held by Cloudy High-Yield Hedge Strategies is hedge fund. It is not traditional investment, such as stock or bonds, and is difficult to determine the current market value. Existence of the investments The confirmation did not provide sufficient competent audit evidences to support the existence of the investments; therefore, the engagement team must perform additional procedures. AU Session 332 states, â€Å"Confirmation of the holdings on a security-by-security basis typically would constitute adequate audit evidence with respect to the existence assertion.† The confirmation Union provided, which is on fund-by-fund basis, is not detail enough to typically be considered as adequate audit evidence. Moreover, the audited financial statement of the alternative investment, which could provide significant audit evidence, is not available before the issuance date of the auditors’ report on Ellie’s consolidated financial statements. This fact further proves that the engagement team needs to conduct substantive procedures. To assess the existence of the investments, following procedures can be performed. First, the engagement team can request transactions involved in each five of funds during the funds’ fiscal years. Actual transactions prove that Ellie’s investments have been held in those five different funds. Second, as the case states, the Committee periodically review plan performance and assets allocation. Therefore, the Committee must kept reports and memos regarding their plan performance or discussions with Union. The engagement team can collect documents related to Ellie’s investments in those five funds from Ellie and Union. Documents from the investor entity and trustee entity can prove the existence of investment activities. Moreover, by comparing those documents, the engagement team can test whether Union’s investment behavior has aligned with the strategies or  any adjustments made to the Ellie’s investments. An example can further illustrate. For example, the Committee decided to change the investment allocation. It is expected to see Union held documents which contain details showing the change of the strategy, specific investment that Union made, and the performance after adjustments. Such documents are sufficient evidence to prove that Ellie’s investments are in the funds and being appropriately management by Union. Lastly but no lease, obtaining related information directly from a third party may also be helpful in this case. The engagement team can directly contact five fund managers and inquire them whether Ellie’s investments were held in the funds. Value of the investments Simply confirming investments in the aggregate neither prove the existence of the investments, nor support the valuation of the investments. Furthermore, there is a time lag in reporting between the date of the financial statements of the funds and the date of the auditor’s report on Ellie’s consolidated financial statements; thus, the engagement team should perform additional procedures. Cloudy Retirement intermediate-Term U.S. Treasury To check the accuracy of the amount of share held by Ellie, the engagement team could request the fund manager to provide documents stating the amount of shares held by Ellie. This fund is registered with the SEC under the Investment Company Act of 1940 and under the Securities Act of 1933. Normally quoted market prices for such funds are available from sources such as financial publications, the exchanges, or NASDAQ. The engagement team could obtain the quoted market prices of the fund and check the prices with those on the confirmation. Cloudy High-Yield Hedge Strategies Since this fund is not registered with SEC under the Investment Company Act of 1940 or under the Securities Act of 1933, the engagement team is unable to get quoted market prices and compare with numbers on the confirmation. However, the engagement team could request a more detailed confirmation providing information of the underlying investments. Next step the engagement team can take is to evaluate the underlying investment and the reasonableness of the assumptions used in fair value calculation. Since  evaluation may involve a lot of specialized knowledge and techniques, the engagement team could employ a specialist. Under the situation that the engagement team did not receive a detailed confirmation of the underlying investments, there are several procedures can help with the assessment. First, the engagement team can collect previously audited financial statement for the funds to compare information the team obtains for this year. If Ellie didn’t make a lot of change on its investments and the performance of funds held by Ellie are stable in recent years, but investment balance of this year is very different from ones of previous years, the engagement team need to increase the risk and take a closer look at the evaluation of Ellie’s investment of this year. Other than previously audited financial statement for the funds, meeting minutes, memos, or summaries that document valuation or judgments made during managing the investment are evidence that auditor should collect and review to help assessment. Second, the engagement team can call or visit the auditors of Union to ask their opinion about the valuation of the investments that Union managed. Besides, the engagement team also could pick some sample transactions and then test the fair value measuremen t involved in those transactions to see whether the fair value measurement are reasonable or comply with industry standard. Last but not least, the auditing team can directly contact the five fund managers to check out Ellie’s balance.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Achievements Of Cloud Computing Information Technology Essay

Achievements Of Cloud Computing Information Technology Essay In the modern world, along with the strong development in information technology, computers are becoming vital part of our life. Computers are available everywhere and they served for various purposes such as working, studying, entertainment, looking for information, etc. It leads to the fact that the increase of connectivity and amount of data requires a solution for this situation. Therefore, there must be a bank of information that helps storing all kind of sources and guarantee that hosted data would exist long term. Back to the past, people used traditional way to maintain the data but it was complex and often costs much. Besides, almost devices which include hardware and software are out of date. There must be also a whole team of specialist who can install, configure, test, run, secure, and update them regularly. In 1990, the introduction of internet marked a tremendous growth of the information technology and the word cloud was born to represent for the internet. Mentioning the cloud computing, people think of a new innovation in technology that become a great help for information storage in general and business in specific. In other words, cloud computing is designed for obtaining network and supplying computer resources. Now, cloud computing has received attention from not only each individual but also many organizations, entrepreneurs, etc. And it deserves such a great attention because of huge benefit from using it. Since then, cloud computing is widespread and applied in many fields such as library and information science, education, architecture and especially business. By far, cloud computing spread across the globe and become biggest turning point in this century. 2. Achievements of cloud computing expressed by statistic data. According to the final report of International Data Corporation (IDC) in 2011, cloud computing brings significant benefits especially in business. Statistic data estimates that cloud computing would contribute up to à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬250 Billion to EU GDP in 2020 and 3.8 million jobs. Besides, the growth of cloud computing also reduces cost and expenditure. In fact, 78% of those who have been using cloud services said that indeed it is a cost saving. Not only the cost savings have been seen, but also people expect the more advantages have also been expected from cloud computing. The chart below illustrates more details about these facts: chart2.png Business seen and expected benefit (IDC Final Report, July 13th, 2012) Cloud computing bring customers a large variety of benefits that can be gained by using it. The convenience of mobile working is undeniable; within Internet access you can use any cloud application by mobile devices. Furthermore, cloud computing enable you to start new business, new location and enhance the productivity easier and more rational. About the other benefit expected categories as: standard processes, capital expenditure (capex) for business and business volume, each of them presents for the promising of standard core process, reduce capital expenditure and increase revenues. The development of cloud computing is the excellent potential for investing in business. Hence, understanding related fields of cloud computing and how to apply it in business would be an advantage. All of the standpoints would be presented as below. Cloud Computing and its application 1. Definition of Cloud Computing Actually, the term cloud computing has just been appeared recently. However, it is not the new trend of information technology; it has only synthesized all the directions of the development of information infrastructure in recent years. In 2006, Amazon impulse the research and implementation of cloud computing (ComputerWeekly.com, 2009). Soon after, with the participation of big corporations such as Google, Microsoft and IBM, cloud computing has had a very strong development which attracts a huge investment in researching of many scientists, universities and companies of information technology. Thus, a lot of definitions of cloud computing were released by experts. However, each research group defines cloud computing byits own understanding and approaches so that it is very difficult to give the most general definition. Here are some definitions of cloud computing: The cloud is IT as a Service, delivered by IT resources that are independent of location (The 451 Group, 2008) Cloud computing is a style of computing where massively scalable IT-related capabilities are provided as a service across the Internet to multiple external customers (Gartner, 2008) Cloud computing is basically a computing model which uses computer technology and develops based on the internet. In the cloud model, all customers requirements relating to information technology are provided in the form of services which allow users to access and use technological services from a provider on the cloud without purchasing the equipment or infrastructure as well as knowledge of that technology. The main task of cloud computing is to meet the users computing demands based on the internet. For example, Google App Engine service provides common online business service which can be accessed from a web browser, the rest of applications and data are stored in the server. However, companies such as Gartner, The 451 Group and IDC are not companies that specialize in IT so these definitions focus mainly on explaining what cloud computing is on the view of commerce and based on their own experience. According to scientific and technical perspective, there are also many different definitions, of which the definition of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is widespread in use; they define cloud computing as a model which has 5 essential characteristics (Grance, Mell, 2011): Resource pooling: Cloud computing allows many users to share a common providers resource pool based on multi-tenant model. Cloud computing is based on virtualization technology so almost all resources is virtual resources which will be allocated dynamically in accordance with the changing demand of different customers. Therefore, the provider can serve more customers than the traditional static resource allocation. Broad network access: With internet connection, customers can use and access the cloud applications from anywhere and anytime by using many types of devices such as smartphone, laptop, tablet. Rapid elasticity: This is the most prominent and important characteristic of cloud computing. The system can scale up or down automatically depending on users demand by adding or reducing resources. This capability helps the service provider manage resources more efficiently, take full advantage of the excess resources and serve more customers. Moreover, the users can cut down the costs because they only pay for the resources actually used. On-demand self-service: When customers have a computing demand such as increase or decrease storage space and server time, they only need to make a request on the providers website and the system will satisfy their needs automatically without any contact with the cloud vendor. Measured service: Cloud service automatically controls and optimizes the use of resources such as storage space, bandwidth, etc. So the resources usage will be monitored and transparently report to both service provider and users. 2. Services model of Cloud Computing Nowadays, many cloud computings suppliers provide different services for users and businesses. Hence, they have to understand thoroughly about the feature and function of each model in order to apply the best model to the company. There are 3 main services of cloud computing which are Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) (Stanoevska-Slabeva el al. 2010) http://www.technoster.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/layers-of-cloud-computing.png 3 types of Cloud Services (http://technoster.com/cloud-computing-explained) Software as a Service SaaS: Before cloud computing is widely known in IT circles, SaaS has actually appeared for a long time, the most popular service is email such as Gmail, Yahoo mail, Hotmail. SaaS is a service model in which the supplier will provide its customers software as a completed service. Customers only need to choose a software application that matches their needs and run the application on the Cloud infrastructure. This service model frees users from the management of system, infrastructure and operation which will be managed and controlled by the host in order to ensure the applications availability and stable operation. Currently, SaaS for businesses is strongly developed such as office applications of Microsoft Office 365 like internal email and communication, applications in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) of SalesForce, Amazons e-commerce applications. Platform as a Service PaaS: is a variant of SaaS, but this service model offers a platform as a service which means that a business can build their own application on the providers infrastructure and delivers to its customers via the hosts server. This business will not be completely free by bounds of design and technology. Some examples of PaaS are Force.com of SalesForce, Google App Engine, etc. Infrastructure as a Service IaaS: is a service model that will provide users basic computing resources such as storage space, server, network as well as tools to manage those resources. Customer can install the operating system, deploy the applications and also connect to other components such as firewalls and load balancers. Therefore, customers have to manage operating systems, storage, applications and connections between the components; service providers manage basic infrastructure below and is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the system. Besides, one of the most popular IaaS services that businesses and organizations often use is to rent a certain amount of resource for daily business operation and rent standby resource for unexpected demands. As a result, it is not necessary for businesses to invest large amount of upfront cost, they only need to pay the cost for the real demand. IaaS brings its customers economic efficiency, especially in the case of demand fo r computing and storage increased sharply in a short time, the investment in infrastructure and equipment will be wasteful; time of purchasing them will cause delay and affecting the operation of businesses. Cloud computing provides its customers variety of models with different characteristics. Thus, the organizations can choose to use cloud computing to supplement their existing computing infrastructure (IaaS), test and develop applications (PaaS) or take advantage of existing applications (SaaS) to timely meet the needs of businesses, reduce investment and opportunity cost. On the view of management, cloud computing allows companies and firms to transfer IT outsourcing to the service provider in order to concentrate on the development of the core business. 3. Deployments Model of Cloud Computing There are 3 types of clouds which can be used for different purposes (Masiyev, 2012): Public cloud: In this cloud, all cloud services is widely provided by the suppliers for the customers widely through the internet. Different applications share the resource pool of computing, storage and network so the infrastructure is designed to ensure separating data between the clients. Public cloud focuses on serving a large number of customers so it is able to meet the flexible computing needs and provide lower costs to the customer. Therefore, public clouds customers include all types of individuals and businesses whom can benefit from easily approach to high-tech and high quality applications without any up-front cost. However, the whole data is located on cloud which is managed and controlled by the provider; this make customer, especially big companies feel unsafe for their important data when using cloud service. http://www.janakiramm.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Public-Cloud.png Public cloud (http://www.janakiramm.net/blog/the-tenets-of-the-cloud) Private cloud: in this type of cloud, all the platform and applications are set up for the use of only one organization or business. Private cloud can be operated by a third party and the infrastructure can be placed inside or outside the owner. Therefore, it helps businesses to maximize the ability to control all data, security and service quality. Besides, private cloud can be built and managed by the companys IT department or they can hire a service provider to undertake this work. Thus, although the investment cost is high, this cloud allows business to control and manage its sensitive or critical data. http://blog.esds.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/public-cloud.jpg Public and Private cloud (http://blog.esds.co.in/while-using-public-cloud-services) Hybrid cloud: As analyzed above, public cloud is easy to set up and use, low cost but not safe in contrast, private cloud is more secure but costly and difficult to set up. Therefore, if these 2 clouds can be combined together, the new model will take advantage of each type of cloud. That is the idea of Hybrid cloud. On one hand, the firm will outsource all insignificant business functions, data and use public cloud to handle these data; on the other hand, business will retain control of important information simultaneously (Private cloud). What is Hybrid Cloud Hosting Hybrid Cloud (http://www.moderndignity.com/what-is-hybrid-cloud-hosting) Businesses can choose to deploy the application on the Public, Private or Hybrid Cloud depending on specific demands. Each type of cloud has its strengths and weaknesses so companies need to consider carefully before choosing or they can use more than 1 model to solve different issues. The need of temporary applications can be implemented on the Public cloud because it helps the firm avoid purchasing additional equipment for a temporary need. Similarly, the need of permanent applications should be implemented on Private or Hybrid Cloud. 4. Application of Cloud Computing Based on the functions of cloud computing applications, they are divided in some of categories such as: processing pipelines; batch processing systems and web applications. Processing pipelines: They include data are data-intensive and sometimes compute-intensive applications. For example: image processing (flickr.com), indexing, document processing, email and social network (Facebook, Twitter. Currently, they represent a fairly large segment of applications which are running on cloud. Batch processing systems: The disadvantage of this type is that it cannot be available for long term. Consequently, it can cause severe problems. A non-exhaustive list of batch processing applications includes activities report, transaction and summaries of organizations, inventory management of big companies, billing and payroll process. Web applications: Another important application is web access. Some categories of web sites only serve for temporary purposes (for example: website for event or conference.) The stronger the cloud computing develop, the more creative of cloud applications prove. With such a huge benefit like that, cloud applications would become active helper of cloud computing. Cloud Computing in Business Is cloud computing suitable for all types of businesses? It depends on the scale of the companies and the nature of businesses. In fact, for the businesses in which data is a vital part such as storage system of a bank, they should build their own operating system and data center. However, Cloud computing is probably a best solution for small businesses because they do not have to invest in initial infrastructure and have a department for management and maintenance of operating system (such as the issue of replacing the storage devices or the problem of power consumption of the system). It cannot deny that outsourcing business system to the cloud will bring a lot of benefit to not only the companies but also its customers. However, there are still some concerns that businesses have to face with when they use cloud computing. 1. Benefit of using cloud computing a. Cost saving The most remarkable benefit of using cloud computing in businesses is economic efficiency. In fact, when a business set up its data and infrastructure on cloud especially public cloud, it is unnecessary to pay significant up-front cost for equipment, management and maintenance of IT system and manpower to operate system. They can rent fully-made applications and storage space from the providers (SaaS) or build their own applications on a platform (PaaS) as needed. Therefore, businesses only need to pay for what they really use (pay as you go) which can cut down the fixed costs. (Chan el al. 2012) Nowadays, more and more companies realized the economic benefit of using cloud computing in their system and one of them is Sensata Technologies a big supplier of electrical equipment and power solution with more than 9000 employees over the world. In order to improve the companys operation, majority of employees e-mail was moved to the cloud by Information Technology department. This decision helps Sensata to reduce more than a half of cost in interaction tool which is approximately $500,000 after just 4 months. (Hodges, 2011) b. Flexibility Thanks to rapid elasticity of cloud computing, customers system can scale up or down flexibly depending on demands. Therefore, businesses are able to start with small scale of system with low demand and then develop to a larger scale with increasing demand (Marston, et al., 2010). For example, in order to launch a new marketing campaign, a business needs to have an own server for uploading information from the client within a month. This server will be redundant when the campaign finishes if a business buy a new server; but with the existing technology infrastructure, third party may grant or revoke this server easily. Furthermore, cloud computing allows employees to easily access companys data from anywhere and anytime even when they are on holiday as long as they have internet connection. With cloud computing, the firm will forward most of the responsibility for controlling system, infrastructure management, securityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ to the service provider, so that the companies can greatly reduce costs and time, they only need to concentrate on the core business and do not have to worry much about control and management of system. c. Environmental benefit Cloud service helps the firms reduce power consumption much more than using its own data center. Power saving can make the environment greener because the less power is consumed, the less carbon is emitted. Besides, using cloud service allows companies to save much area of land use for cumbersome database center. According to recent research about power consumption and carbon emission of using cloud computing (Accenture, 2011), more than 30 percent of power can be saved and about 32 percent of carbon emission may be avoided for the large companies when they move applications to the cloud; with small businesses, these numbers are even higher which are about 90 percent for each of them. d. Improve performance Cloud computing allows the firm to access almost immediately to the pool of data which leads to faster transactions in business. Moreover, it is easier for the organizations to work in collaboration with partners because they can share and access to the same data quickly on the cloud. On the other hand, the issue of storage space now can be solved with cloud computing, it is unnecessary for the employees to keep the data in their limited hard drive which might be corrupted or lost because of computer crash or virus. e. Automatic update A lot of companies spend few days or even couple of weeks on just upgrading their operating and security system which contains huge amount of data. However, with cloud computing, businesses do not need to update their software or system by themselves; it is all done by the cloud vendor regularly as soon as the latest update is available. 2. Challenging for Cloud computing a. Security and privacy The most frequently question about cloud computing is: Is it safe to move all businesss data to the cloud? Actually, when moving all data to the cloud, businesses lose somewhat of abilities of controlling their information; they have to lay their faith entirely on the cloud vendor to ensure the safety of that data. With some companies of which data is their lifeblood, it is very risky to put the control of those sensitive and critical data on the third-party hand, hacking or some kinds of attacks to the infrastructure may cause some adversely unexpected consequences such as data loss or corruption. Besides, privacy is also the big concern of using cloud computing. In fact, putting data on cloud can make organizations data more vulnerable and it can be accessed by unauthorized people. Currently, a solution to solve this issue is that cloud users need to encrypt their data before uploading to the cloud and they have to decrypt it at the local computer when they want to use that data. For instance, according to Bloomberg, in April 2011, more than 100 million customers accounts of Sony Corporation were compromised by hacker through Amazon cloud service; the Sonys PlayStation Network and Qriocity service had to shut down in nearly one month due to the cyber-attack. Hackers rented a server of Amazons EC2 service as a platform to launch an attack to Japanese company and stole personal information and credit, debit card information of their customers. After an incident, shares price of Amazon decreased 1.7 percent from $206.07to $202.56 in stock market, this decline of Sony is even more significantly, they lost nearly 23 percent of the share price in 2011. (Alpeyev, et al.,2011) On the other hand, because of the ability to damage and spread very quickly, computer virus is one of the major risks of data security issues. The centralization of data on the cloud can reduce time and cost of virus removal, but the risk and impact of virus will not change or even turn more dangerous because of the reason that though whether in any model, the destructive purposes of the virus creator are not changed, viruses still have the objective of sabotage and fraud; the new variants of virus that adapt to the operating environment of cloud computing will promptly appear. Moreover, centralizing data on the clouds server also helps virus spread faster and sabotage stronger. b. Availability Another challenge of cloud computing is whether users can access and utilize their data and applications or not, there is a problem with the server system of the provider. With the businesses which need to access their data and files all the time for operation, this is such a serious issue which may cause some critical consequences such as delay in business. Therefore, companies should have a plan providing against all possible contingencies such as backup system if problem occurs. c. Cloud provider lock-in Today, clouds applications are being improved the ability of interaction between different platforms. However, when businesses build their application on a cloud infrastructure, it is very difficult to move that application to another cloud vendor in the future. Furthermore, businesses become dependent on the technology and quality of service providers which can reduce their flexibility and creativity, they only have the right to do what the cloud vendor allows. In addition, the latest information is often not timely updated by the provider while companies want to keep pace with the latest innovations, so they may feel dissatisfied with that limitation. d. Internet dependency According to the definition of cloud computing, users must have internet connection to access the resource on cloud infrastructure, so the availability, speed, quality and performance of internet may significantly affect the business operation. Internet interruption may occur in the middle of transaction which means that action can be cancelled or delayed. Besides, without a high speed connection, it can take a lot of time to load huge amount of data through the internet 3. Future of cloud computing In the recent report of Gartner (2012),it indicated that there is a stable increasing in public cloud service. It also proves the fact that cloud computing become useful and being used widespread. In 2010, public cloud services reached 75.6 billion Dollars. But it is estimated that in 2016 it would account for 206.6 billion dollars. So, during 2011 and 2016, it may contribute compound annual growth rate of17.7%. chart 4.png Market size of public cloud services (Market Analysis and Statistic, Gartner2012) In my opinion, cloud computing not only continues to have a strong impact on business with concrete targets including increasing revenues and decreasing cost. But cloud computing can also bring us many other chances in different fields. a. Advertising services. The combination of advertising services and cloud service can be more efficient. It has become a trend with many useful online tools. Now, the two main part of cloud advertising market are paid search and online display advertising. This form of advertise is easier and quicker which can grab peoples attention better. Businesses could save a lot of money for the cost of producing advertising products. Besides, it meets the demands of customers who do not want to spend much time to look for information in normal ways (magazines, leaflet, booklet).All of them now always are available on Internet within few clicks. b. E-commerce services. Shopping online is quite popular and convenient. Actually, online retail is not considered as cloud service. But, the provision for retail online service from one to the other which can gain profit is a form of cloud service. Amazon is a typical example for the extraordinary successful of E-commerce. By doing E-Commerce, businesses can expand the wide range of customers and understand the taste of specific customer groups (through statistic numbers) which all lead to the great achievement in increasing profit. Case study 1. Overview Royal Mail Group is one of the biggest postal organizations in UK that is responsible for mail and parcel delivery and related businesses, about 70 million items are delivered by Royal Mail around UK every day. However, the rising numbers of competitors in this sector are putting more and more pressure on Royal Mail which forces them to have a rational strategy to compete with private companies, this challenge is even bigger for the information technology unit in the company who always need to upgrade the system to make it operate efficiently. In order to deal with this concern, in 2008, Royal Mail Group decided to replace the IBM Lotus Notes which is out-of-date and costs too much by a new economical service model, it is cloud computing. (Jaques, 2011) 2. Cloud computing in Royal Mail Group Royal Mail spend only about 8 weeks to apply this new model named Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) which is more flexible and scalable than the old one without paying a huge amount of money each year. More than 28 thousand accounts of employees are moved to the cloud proving them many useful tools of communication such as instant messages, audio and video conference which helps them work more efficiently. Server, storage space, application are now provided on demand by CSC and Microsoft so that they only pay as they use and can easily scale up or down their system in each period of time. For example, Christmas is always the peak time of Royal Mail which requires the company to operate at full capacity, so the cloud service allows the firm to expand their system in order to meet the demand and scale down in the off-peak time. The benefit of applying new cloud service is more impressive according to economical perspective. In fact, Royal Mail can save about 15 percen t of only maintenance cost which is now the responsibility of service provider (Tabbitt, 2011). According to the head of infrastructure management of Royal Mail Adrian Steel, the company may save approximately  £1 million during the 4 years contract with CSC. Conclusion This dissertation has proved the significant role of cloud computing in businesses and its widespread development in near future. The appearance of cloud computing brings the solutions for businesses questions related to build a datacenter with low-cost, high benefit, security and sustainable. Many years ago, it takes much time for business to develop and attract millions of customers. Nowadays, cloud computing make all dreams of using computer and Internet as a powerful tool becomes practical and realizable. The target of deliver services to millions customers through Internet with faster speed now can achieved for months. In both viewpoints of businesses and customers, they all received the benefit from cloud computing directly or indirectly. With different cloud computing services models and 3 types of cloud, they allow businesses consider and choose which model would be most suitable for businesses. Each of services models and cloud type has its own advantage and disadvantage traits. Therefore, understanding basic knowledge of them is quite necessary. Businesses of different fields can apply cloud computing successfully such as newspaper like Washington Post, search engine like Google Web Search, online retail like Amazon or even movie companies like Pixar. By using cloud computing, businesses can get remarkable achievements which can be shown through rising revenues and good reputation. Besides, the interaction between businesses and customers would be more closed. It all serves for the sake of matching demands for both sides. Based on the statistic number, it is apparently that cloud computing promote the economic growth in general and in business in particular. With the increasing quickly in the number of cloud computing users, there must be some necessary steps to consider the challenging and obstacles from cloud computing. Hence, we can know exactly what should we do to prevent them then give some recommendations which would be helpful for both sides: cloud providers and businesses. For cloud providers perspective: Providers have to predict what could become risks from cloud computing. Therefore, providers would develop strategies that help enhance the cloud system. Besides, providers also have to pay attention at some main threads such as: availability, internet independency and other ethical issues. For businesses perspective: Businesses should prepare carefully before making any decision that they should migrate to cloud computing or not. Evaluate the internal and external force and the current situation of business are also important. By doing that, they can know exactly what type of cloud that their structure need. Cloud computing gives businesses long term benefit and makes the breakthrough in technology. It becomes most preferred choice for businesses and industries. Cloud computing would give us a new chance, new hope for the world that businesses will be full of success in particular, and a world that economic can develop for the interest of everyone.

Report on manpower planning and barriers

Report on manpower planning and barriers This report aims to present the manpower planning which consisting estimating manpower, job analysis, recruitment, selection and training. Also, we will present barriers of implement of manpower planning and suggest solution to the barriers. Finally, we will structure a training session. Introduction Since the company not had consistency good finance results. All systems of the company are decided to upgrade, and each group company will have same package so the group can co0ordinate all the subsidiaries. We must improve the manpower planning 3.0 Manpower Planning The centrality of manpower in production process of corporate entities has long been acknowledged by organization managers and administrators. It is an on-going process (integrated approach), not a once and for all phenomenon. Its process involves interrelated activities and the plan must continue to be modified to meet prevailing circumstances. As a plan, it is embedded with implementation programmes designed to ensure availability of adequate qualified persons. Such implementation programmes include recruitment and selection (employment) of required skilled personnel to perform jobs that will allow the enterprise meet both the corporate and individual goals. The plan implementation programme also entails training and development of personnel and performance appraisal as well as other related personnel administration functions. The term Manpower Planning at organizational or corporate level is also known as micro-human resources planning and it has much to do with personnel management or personnel administration. The terms manpower, human resource, and personnel management or personnel administration refer to the same activities concerned with managing people at work. As such the terms can be used interchangeably. On this basis, Manpower Planning and Human Resources Planning are the same phenomenon. The main benefits or purposes of manpower planning are: (i)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To control labour costs and enhance efficiency by ensuring that only the most essential and required personnel are hired and retained (ii)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To increase productivity by matching people with jobs that truly exists and is adequate for them.   (iii)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To provide a lead time to recruit and train workers ahead of need.   Required skills are thus provided for in advance (iv)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To provide a basis for other plans, such as plans for facilities, desks and office accommodation, and assist in their formulation. (v)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To anticipate and overcome redundancies.   The information provided about future manpower surpluses and redundancies in particular area could be used by management to plan a retraining programme for those who would be rendered redundant by changes in technology and company reorganization.   Such people can then be made available for jobs in which they are needed. (vi)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To show the implications of retirements and promotion plans in terms of management development and succession planning. 4.0 Manpower Process Estimating manpower Employment or Manpower planning is the process of deciding what positions the company will have to fill, and how to fill them. Manpower planning covers all future positions from maintenance clerk to CEO. However, most companies call the process of deciding how to fill companys most important executive jobs succession planning. Employment planning should be an integral part of a firms strategic and HR planning processes. Plans to enter new businesses, build new plants, or reduce costs all influence the types of positions the firm will need to fill. That also meant they needed plans for who to hire, how to screen applicants, and when to put the plans into place. One big question is whether to fill projected openings from within or from outside the firm. In other words, should we plan to fill positions with current employees or by recruiting from outside? Each option produces its own set of HR plans. Current employees may require training, development, and coaching before theyre ready to fill new jobs. Going outside requires a decisions about what recruiting sources to use, among other things. Job analysis Job analysis is the fundamental process that forms the basis of all human resource activities. In its simplest terms, job analysis is a systematic process for gathering, documenting and analyzing data about the work required for a job. The data collected in a job analysis, and reflected through a job description, includes a description of the context and principal duties of the job, and information about the skills, responsibilities, mental models and techniques for job analysis. These include the Position Analysis, Questionnaires, which focuses on generalized human behavior and interviews, task inventories, fundamental job analysis and the job element method. Job analysis is the procedure for identifying those duties or behaviors that define a job. Aside from verifying the fairness of selection procedures, job analysis is the foundation of virtually every other area of industrial psychology, including performance appraisal training and human factors. Additionally, job analysis is the basis of job evaluation, the procedure for setting salary scales. Information about jobs can be collected in a number of ways such as potential sources: observation, individual interview, group interview, technical conference, questionnaire, diary, critical incidents, equipment design information, recording of job activities, or employee records. Possible agents to do the collecting are professional job analysis, supervisors, job incumbents, or even a camera in the work place. Recruitment Recruitment is the process of identifying the prospective employees, stimulating and encouraging them to apply for a particular job or jobs in an organization. It is a positive action as it involves inviting people to apply. The purpose is to have an inventory of eligible persons from amongst whom proper selection of the most suitable person can be made. Before you think of inviting people to apply for a job you have to decide what types of persons are to be invited and what their characteristics should be. This calls for fixing the job specifications which may also be called man specifications. Job specification will be different for each job. Physical Specifications: For certain jobs some special features may be required. For example, for assembly of a TV set or some other electronic equipment good vision is required, for a typing job you need finger dexterity, for a heavy job you need a strong, heavy and thick-set body. The particular physical abilities and skills necessary for a given job have to be specified. These may refer to height, weight, vision, finger dexterity, voice, poise, hand and foot coordination, etc. Mental Specifications: These include intelligence, memory, judgment, ability-plan, ability to estimate, to read, to write, to think and concentrate, scientific faculties, arithmetical abilities, etc. Emotional and Social Specifications: These include characteristics which will affect his working with others, like personal appearance, manners, emotional stability, aggressiveness, or submissiveness, leadership, cooperativeness, skill in dealing with others, social adaptability, etc. Behavioural Specifications: Certain management personnel at higher levels of management are expected to behave in a particular manner. These are not formally listed but have to be kept in mind during the process of recruitment, selection and placement. Besides, there are two categories of sources of supply of manpower-Internal and External. Internal Sources: These include personnel already on the pay-roll of the organization as also those who were once on the pay-roll of the company but who plan to return, or whom the company, would like to rehire. These include those who quit voluntarily or those on production lay-offs. External Sources: These sources lie outside the organization, like the new entrants to the labour force without experience. These include college students, the unemployed with a wider range of skills and abilities, the retired experienced persons, and others not in the labour force, like married women. Selection Selection is the process of examining the applicants with regard to their suitability for the given job or jobs and choosing the best from the suitable candidates and rejecting the others. Thus, you will notice that this process is negative in nature in the sense that rejection of candidates involved. It is the process of securing relevant information about an applicant to evaluate his qualification, experience and other qualities with the view of matching with the requirement of a job. It is the process of picking out the man or men best suited for the organizations requirement. The selection process involves rejection of unsuitable or less suitable applicants. This may be done at any of the successive hurdles which an applicant must cross. These hurdles act as screens designed to eliminate an unqualified applicant at any point in the process. Those who qualify a hurdle go to the next one; those who do not qualify are dropped out. The complexity of the process usually increases with the level and responsibility of the position to be filled. Initial Screening or Preliminary Interview: This is a sorting process in which prospective applicants are given the necessary information about the nature of the job and also, necessary information is elicited from the candidates about their education, experience, skill, salary expectation etc. If the candidate is found to be suitable, he is selected for further process and, if not he is eliminated. Application Scrutiny: Different types of application forms are used by the organization for different types of positions/posts. Some forms are simple, general and easily answerable, while others may require elaborate, complex and detailed information. Sometimes applications are asked in plain sheet. Application forms are designed to serve as a highly effective preliminary screening device, particularly when applications are received in direct response to an advertisement and without any preliminary interview. In our organization the applications are used in two ways: to find out on the basis of information contained there in as to the chances of success of the candidate in the job for which he is applying, and to provide a starting point for the interview. Training Systematic training and development of organization employee is the foundation of efficient and effective utilization and productivity of corporate personnel. To be effective in meeting organization goals of efficiency and increased productivity, cost-effective in operations, training must not be conducted in ad hoc and haphazard manner. It should be a deliberate policy instrument designed to meet training needs of individuals, organization and a technologically changing environment of production. The training progremmes should be appropriate and adequate to solve corporate training needs arising from the requirements of newcomers, shortfalls in employee performance, organizational change and the individual workers expressed or observed needs. Training is a learning process which aim at helping employee to acquire basic skills required for efficient execution of the functions for which employee are hired; while development deals with activities undertaken to expose employees to be able to perform additional duties of managerial and administrative nature in the near future. Training efforts are geared toward acquisition of manipulative skills, technical knowledge, problem solving ability and attitudes. While development is designed to prepare employee to assume position of responsibility of supervisory and leadership natures. The two techniques of learning are usually planned by the organization to improve competence level of employee. The third learning method is the education method. 5.0 Example of Manpower Planning A large supply company in UK wants to improve and control the unit cost. The company had designed and implemented a radical manpower change to reduce staff numbers by 20%. They using manpower forecasting methods and projecting productivity growth, they were able to reduce the number employed form 6500 to 4500 and increase productivity by the required amount. Key tools used Manpower predictive forecasting and rightsizing. Supportive training was also designed and provided. Another example is building a new business from scratch for an American company in the UK. The company is a construction company. The company post advertisements and recruitment statements which have new terms and conditions written specifically for the UK market in newspaper. 1,300 people were test, screed and interview. After consideration and selection by the company, a number of people were hired. Training courses were designed and carried for successful applicants. 6.0 Problems, Barriers and solutions to Manpower Planning Manpower development is the core element of a business that helps to shape and lead the future of any organization through the use of its people. Successful manpower development could result in high production and long-term future growth for business. However overcoming these challenges means understanding the vision of the business and how to best forecast future events in manpower planning. Planning helps management with the right number and the right kind of people at the right place in business. Hiring the Right Fit The approach to developing manpower should include hiring a person who not only has the acquired skills necessary to perform the job but also is a good fit for the organization. Organizational fits are very challenging because the individual not only has to be qualified but they must be able to adapt and adopt the culture of the organization. Accepting organizational culture is critical, because it is often a determining factor in an employee remaining with the organization. Maintaining effective manpower is equally as important to recruiting right person for the job. Employee Turnover Plan of Action Employee turnover happens for various reasons and is inevitable in manpower development. Some of the causes are controllable factors, while many of them are hard to foresee. It is harder to identify or forecast the death of an employee or an illness that leaves an employee in an incapacitated state, because it can happen at any time. Developing a plan of action in manpower development that negates these factors can be difficult. Ensuring that the employee turnover does not impact the manpower in the out years of business is the biggest dilemma. Continuing Education With constant changes in technology, business professionals need to keep up-to-date by taking courses designed to improve their technical skills and knowledge. Programs such as the Microsoft Certified Professional certification provide comprehensive training, practice and testing opportunities to business professionals seeking to further their careers. Flexible alternatives such as web-based training, coaching and mentoring or recorded multimedia sessions enable busy professionals to train for an advanced role or even a career change. Leave/ Work Schedules Offering work schedules that stay abreast of workforce trends is challenging, because it requires research and understanding of the workforce needs. If leave policies or work schedules are too lenient, it could impact the production of business in a negative way. Rising Costs Global organizations face rising costs and need to plan effectively so we can efficiently recruit and hire the best manpower, both permanent and temporary. Fewer management layers and less support staff make it more difficult to provide new employees with the personalized attention they typically need to get started. Self-paced training courses that provide details about how to use company tools, such as email or accounting systems, often replace instructor-led classroom sessions. Workers may not have an office at the same location as their manager and rely on web conferencing software instead spending the extra time and expense to travel to a common location for meetings. Employees need training and tips on how to use these alternatives effectively. Changing Priorities Companies typically set strategic goals on an annual basis. Training programs should be aligned with strategic plans. For example, if company executives want to see an increase in customer satisfaction, training professionals should focus on identifying problems in providing customer support proficiently. Then, we can design training courses and career development opportunities that help employees learn the best techniques for troubleshooting problems and handling customer complaints skillfully. Once operational metrics improve, the focus may change to other areas, such as reducing product defects or eliminating waste. 7.0   Training Session Plan TRAINING SESSION PLAN COURSE: Approaches to manpower planning in a property orientated business SESSION: 2 COURSE OBJECTIVE: Give theoretical and practical approach to manpower planning with the industry LEARNING OUTCOMES: Improvement the manpower planning of the company DURATION: 4 hours EQUIPMENT: Computer, Projector, White Board and Marker Pens TIME ITEM AID INTRODUCTION 9.00 Background Course objectives Session objectives W/B TOPIC 1 9.15 Manpower Planning Estimating manpower, job analysis, Recruitment, Selection System, Training 10.30 Examples of the manpower planning of other companies 11.00 Break TOPIC 2 11.30 Barriers and solutions to the manpower planning summary and close 12.30 Review Topics The Training course is about four hours. We wil separate the course into two part by a short break. The first part will introduce the manpower planning and introduce some example of the manpower planning. After the break, we will talk about the barriers and solution to the manpower planning. Finally, we will have a review and questioning session. 8.0 Conclusion The manpower planning must introduce to the company to improve the situation of the company. Good planning can bring the company raise the income and increase efficiency output.