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

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.

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

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.

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.