Private Network Extranet Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Private Network Extranet - Thesis Example Consequently, sharing of information may minimize cost and time of meetings and conferences. Furthermore, the dynamic modification of data is possible, it means who ever connects to the extranet, will receive updated information. As the University interacts with the customers, Extranet will improve relationships with customers and is a plus for competitive advantage. However, extranet requires a significant cost for implementation and maintenance afterwards. In order to become a PCI DSS complaint, University must adhere to the required accepted level of security. In order to synchronize and manage customer data within the business processes of the internal staff, ‘customer relationship management’ system is required. In addition, for processing order online, an e-commerce system is required with strict compliance and security measures. As new innovative technologies are inventing in the Information Technology domain, possibilities of new hacking methods are also originating with new approaches. The threats consisting of virus, malicious codes, unauthorized remote access, unauthorized access to domains and classified data, intrudes in the network from a security loophole. The most common security prevention from these attacks is firewall. Firewall can be hardware based or software based. Firewall is the first point of contact for data packets that pass through or from the network. Moreover, there are service disruptions attacks including software bugs and buffer overflows on the information systems, which may downgrade their performance resulting in network congestion and complete system or network failure. The University is facing severe issues related to viruses. In order to prevent these issues, intrusion detection system (IDS) is essential. The more advanced form of attacks involves Denial of Service (DOS) atta cks.

Topics in film Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Topics in film Studies - Essay Example The film focuses on the adventures of the crew of one ship, the Enterprise, as it is seeks to save Earth from destruction by what appears to be an omni powerful entity from outside their galaxy. The crew ultimately prevails through their pragmatic use of scientific study and technology, and the god-like aggressor turns out to be a returning, alien-upgraded Voyager space probe. In contrast, the people of Star Wars are ruled by the heavy handed Galactic Empire. The empire dedicates its resources to applying oppressive control over its population, destroying entire planets as it sees fit to further its goals. Rather than focusing on the crew of a single ship, the protagonist characters of Star Wars begin largely unaware of each other, living entirely separate lives and different worlds, only to come together near the end of the film to defeat the forces of the empire. Further, its the use of the mysterious, almost religious powers of "The Force", rather than science, that delivers the characters from defeat. Behind these on screen differences, though, the 1977 Star Wars film had inescapable, pervasive influences, both positive and challenging, on the production of the Star Trek film that followed. One of the most significant examples was Star Wars’ influence in convincing the Paramount film studio that the Star Trek movie should be made at all. In 1977, while there had been initial efforts to bring Star Trek to the big screen, Paramount had decided to develop a new Star Trek television series, instead. The success of Star Wars, however, changed their minds. â€Å"Box office receipts for Star Wars were making science fiction believers out of the most skeptical critics; even Charles Bluhdor, chairman of Gulf & Western, Paramount’s parent company, reportedly inquired why there was so much foot-dragging on Star Trek† (Stein) Gene

Strategic Planning Essay

Strategic Planning Essay Introduction: Planning is the most important thing for all organization. A successful plan means a successful mission to goal of a business or organization. It doesnt matter the organization big or small. Plan will bring you to face the challenges and opportunities. This will enable to deliver more effectively to meet the needs of target people and strengthen the organization. Planning is the first step towards sustainable funding. Planning should be creative process, simple and straightforward that brings demonstrable benefits. The process of making systematic decisions about proposed future outcomes, the process includes evaluating an organization and the environment in which it operates, establishing long-term goals, and mapping a plan to achieve the goals that have been identified. Strategic planning assumes and incorporates the likelihood of a changing environment that will require adjustments in the identified goals and the process of achieving them. Strategic planning process: Environmental Scanning Developing the environmental scanning structure. The environmental scanning process. Searching for information resources Selecting information resources to scan. Identifying criteria by which to scan. Determining special actions to take on the scanning results Scanning for the institution. Evaluating the process. Key stages of strategic planning process: There are several key stages of strategic planning process: Develop Vision and Mission Business and operation analysis Develop and select strategic option Establish strategic objective Strategy execution plan. Establish resource allocation Execution summary â€Å"Strategy can be seen as an on going ‘positioning process for an organization and strategic planning can be seen as a separate activity reviewed at periodic well- defined intervals†. Strategy involves achieving a competitive advantage for an organization in meeting the needs of customers and fulfilling the expectations of stakeholders. â€Å"An organization with an ‘active strategy will have a ‘plan on which to base its decisions. This plan may be in the form of a written document, or it may be a way of approaching matters as they arise†. Example: In the case of Marks Spencer in the late 1990s, its surveys showed that customer satisfaction did fall over a period of months, but there were a combination of factors causing problems, including a general recession in High Street shops in 1998. Other possible problems for MS that were out limited TV advertising, its supply lines were relatively expensive, and it had difficulties with its product range and with the presentation of its clothes. Although the company recorded profits of over  £1 billion in 1997 and 1998, there was a 23 per cent drop in profits in November 1998. The CEO left the company in 1999 and there were further changes in senior management in the following two years. Major credit cards became accepted, product ranges were altered, product presentation was reviewed and a TV advertising campaign was undertaken under the slogan ‘Exclusively for everyone. (Tim Hannagan, Mastering @Strategic Management, 2002, Palgrave, New York, pg 60) Task 2: Involvement of stakeholders in the strategic planning process. Stakeholders are involved in the effects of strategic management because the actions and the development of the organization will result in change in their circumstances in one way or another. Stakeholders can be described as individuals and groups who are affected by the activities. It can be argued that the most important stakeholders are those who have the most to lose from the organizations actions. It is also important for an organization to be able to assess the power of these groups to influence events and the attitudes of the most powerful groups individuals. Stakeholders include a range of people involved with a company: The shareholders- who own the company and receive dividends. Financial bodies such a banks- who fund organizations in one way or another, and receive added value through interest or by other means. The employee- who receive some of the added value through their pay. The management- who receive added value through their pay and other benefits. The government- which receives part of the added value in the form of taxes. The customers- who consume the results of the value added to a commodity or service through the value chain. The mission and the objectives of an organization have to be developed taking into account the interests of the organizations stakeholders. Stakeholders Expectations Shareholders Financial return Creditors Interest, Creditworthiness, Prompt payment Suppliers Payment, long-term orders Employees Pay, stability, job satisfaction Managers Pay, benefits, power and control Customers Supply of goods and services, quality Government Taxes, employment, economic growth Strategic Management In terms of strategic management the major issue is to identify the relative power of the various stakeholders so that it is clear which of them is the most important to satisfy. On the one hand, it can be said that form any organization the customer comes first, second and third because comes without the customer the purpose of the organization will not exit, on the other hand, there may be other stakeholders who if not satisfied have the power to bring the organization to an end. For an example, Creditors have the power to close an organization if they are not paid, and employees can bring a company to its knees by withdrawing their labour. Every organization has to decide which are its most influential stakeholders and balance out their interests. Task 3: SWOT analysis of an organization: SWOT is an abbreviation for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. SWOT analysis is an important tool for auditing the overall strategic position of a business and its environment. Once key strategic issues have been indentified, they feed into business objectives, particularly marketing objectives. The key distinction: Internal and External Issues. Internal Issues: Strengths and Weaknesses are internal factors. For example, an strength could be specialist marketing expertise. A weakness could be the lack of a new product. External Factors: Opportunities and Threats are external factors. For example, an opportunity could be a developing distribution channel such as the internet, or changing consumer lifestyles that potentially increase demand for a companys product. A threat could be a new competitor in an important existing market or a technological change that makes existing products potentially obsolete. (S)trengths: Diversifying away from areas of major threat to more promising opportunities. Focusing on modifying weaknesses in spots of significant opportunities. Taking defensive measures in areas of threat where you are weak. (W)eaknesses: Make mind up which weaknesses need to be addressed as a priority. Other weaknesses have got to be accepted and respected until time and resources let find a solution. Some weaknesses can be developed into strengths or opportunities. For instance, it might be feasible to turn a shortage of production capacity into increased value for your product. (T)hreats: Build successful relationships with suppliers and customer. Cultivate good employee relations. Ensure clear and reasonable contracts with suppliers, customers and employees. Procure insurance against evident debacles. Make realistic contingency plans to deal with potential. Establish the right types of service contracts for key personnel. Invest in legal protection for intellectual property. Task 4: The differences between balance scorecard, scenario planning, cost benefit analysis and sensitivity analysis. Balance scorecard: The balanced scorecard is a strategic planning and management system that is used extensively in business and industry, government, and nonprofit organizations worldwide to align business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, improve internal and external communications, and monitor organization performance against strategic goals. Kaplan and Norton describe the innovation of the balanced scorecard as follows: The balanced scorecard retains traditional financial measures. But financial measures tell the story of past events, an adequate story for industrial age companies for which investments in long-term capabilities and customer relationships were not critical for success. These financial measures are inadequate, however, for guiding and evaluating the journey that information age companies must make to create future value through investment in customers, suppliers, employees, processes, technology, and innovation. Examples: Department Areas Finance Return on Investment Cash Flow Return on Capital Employed Financial Results (Quarterly/Yearly) Internal Business Processes Number of activities per function Duplicate activities across functions Process alignment (is the right process in the right department) Process bottlenecks Process automation Learning and Growth Is there the correct expertise for the job Employee turnover Job satisfaction Training opportunities Customer Delivery performance to customer Quality performance for customer Customer satisfaction rate Customer percentage of market Customer retention rat Scenario Planning: Scenario planning where choices can be screened by matching them to possible scenarios. This is a ‘what if? approach based on possible changes in the organizations environment. This leads to the formation of contingency plans in order to meet the requirements of each of these possible scenarios. For this approach to be useful, the strategic manager has to recognize the onset of the elements of a particular scenario so that the appropriate contingency plan can be introduced. Tim Hannagan, Mastering Strategic Management, 2002, Palgrave, New York, pg 60 Scenario planning or scenario thinking is a strategic planning tool used to make flexible long-term plans. It is a method for learning about the future by understanding the nature and impact of the most uncertain and important driving forces affecting our world. â€Å"Change has considerable psychological impact of the human mind. To the fearful, change is threatening because it means that things may get worse to the hopeful, change is encouraging because things may get better. To confident, change is inspiring because the challenge exists to make thing better â€Å"King Whitney, Jr.† Cost benefits analysis: A cost benefit analysis finds, quantifies, and adds all the positive factors. These are the benefits. Then it identifies, quantifies, and subtracts all the negatives, the costs. The difference between the two indicates whether the planned action is advisable. The real trick to doing a cost benefit analysis well is making sure you include all the costs and all the benefits and property quantify them. Example of a Cost Benefit As the Production Manager, proposing the purchase of a $ 1 million stamping machine to increase output. Before present the proposal to the Vice President, know the need some facts to support suggestion, decide to run the numbers and do a cost benefit analysis. Itemize the benefits. With the new machine, it can be produced 100 more units per hour. The three workers currently doing the stamping by hand can be replaced. The units will be higher quality because they will be more uniform and be convinced these outweigh the costs. There is a cost to purchase the machine and it will consume some electricity. Any other costs would be insignificant. Calculate the selling price of the 100 additional units per hour multiplied by the number of production hours per month. Add to that two percent for the units that arent rejected because of the quality of the machine output. Also add the monthly salaries of the three workers. Thats a pretty good total benefit. Then calculate the monthly cost of the machine, by dividing the purchase price by 12 months per year and divide that by the 10 years the machine should last. The manufacturers specs tell what the power consumption of the machine is and get power cost numbers from accounting then figure the cost of electricity to run the machine and add the purchase cost to get a total cost figure. Now subtract total cost figure from total benefit value and analysis shows a healthy profit. Sensitivity analysis: Sensitivity analysis is a method for testing the degree of sensitivity of a system or models variables by applying incremental changes. The system can be physical or notional and represent the whole project or major element the analysis determines which variables are the most significant having the most impact on results and so helps the selection of the optimal settings or best solution. A technique used to determine how different values of an independent variable will impact a particular dependent variable under a given set of assumptions. This technique is used within specific boundaries that will depend on one or more input variables, such as the effect that changes in interest rates will have on a bonds price. Sensitivity analysis is a way to predict the outcome of a decision if a situation turns out to be different compared to the key prediction(s). Example: An analyst might create a financial model that will value a companys equity (the dependent variable) given the amount of earnings per share (an independent variable) the company reports at the end of the year and the companys price-to-earnings multiple (another independent variable) at that time. The analyst can create a table of predicted price-to-earnings multiples and a corresponding value of the companys equity based on different values for each of the independent variables. Conclusion: Strategy can be seen as an on going positioning process for an organization and strategic planning can be seen as a separate activity reviewed at periodic well defined intervals. References: http://www.yourdictionary.com/business/strategic-planning horizon.unc.edu/projects/seminars/futuresresearch/stages.html http://ezinearticles.com/?7-Steps-Effective-Strategic-Planning-Processid=588763 Tim Hannagan, Mastering @Strategic Management, 2002, Palgrave, New York, pg 60 Tim Hannagan, Mastering @Strategic Management, 2002, Palgrave, New York, pg 50, 51 Kaplan and Norton http://www.businessballs.com/balanced_scorecard.htm Tim Hannagan, Mastering @Strategic Management, 2002, Palgrave, New York, pg 60) http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/tools/scenario-planning King Whitney, Jr. http://management.about.com/cs/money/a/CostBenefit.htm http://www.maxwideman.com/issacons1/iac1112b/tsld002.htm http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sensitivityanalysis.asp

Heart of Darkness: Psychoanalytic Criticism Essay -- Psychoanalysis Si

Heart of Darkness: Psychoanalytic Criticism Psychoanalytic criticism originated in the work of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who pioneered the technique of psychoanalysis. Freud developed a language that described, a model that explained, and a theory that encompassed human psychology. His theories are directly and indirectly concerned with the nature of the unconscious mind. Through his multiple case studies, Freud managed to find convincing evidence that most of our actions are motivated by psychological forces over which we have very limited control (Guerin 127). One of Freud’s most important contributions to the study of the psyche is his theory of repression: the unconscious mind is a repository of repressed desires, feelings, memories, wishes and instinctual drives; many of which have to do with sexuality and violence. These unconscious wishes, according to Freud, can find expression in dreams because dreams distort the unconscious material and make it appear different from itself and more acceptable to co nsciousness. They may also appear in other disguised forms, like in language (sometimes called the Freudian slips), in creative art and in neurotic behavior. One of the unconscious desires Freud believed that all human beings supposedly suppress is the childhood desire to displace the parent of the same sex and to take his or her place in the affections of the parent of the opposite sex. This so-called â€Å"Oedipus Complex,† which all children experience as a rite of passage to adult gender identity, lies at the core of Freud’s sexual theory (Murfin 114-5). A principal element in Freud’s theory is his assignment of the mental processes to three psychic zones: the id, the ego and the superego. The id is the passional, irrational, and unconscious part of the psyche. It is the site of the energy of the mind, energy that Freud characterized as a combination of sexual libido and other instincts, such as aggression, that propel the human organism through life, moving it to grow, develop and eventually to die. That primary process of life is completely irrational, and it cannot distinguish reasonable objects and unreasonable or socially unacceptable ones. Here comes the secondary processes of the mind, lodged in the ego and the superego. The ego, or â€Å"I,† was Freud’s term for the predominantly rational, logical, orderly and conscious part of the psych... ...ut: Librairie Du Liban Publishers SAL, 1994. Guerin, Wilfred L., et al. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Hewitt, Douglas. â€Å"Conrad: A Reassessment.† World Literature Criticism. Ed. Polly Vedder. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 1992. 789-92. Hughs, Richard E. The Lively Image: Four Myths in Literature. Cambridge, MA: Winthrop Publishers, 1975. Karl, Frederick R. â€Å"A Reader’s Guide To Joseph Conrad.† World Literature Criticism. Ed. Polly Vedder. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 1992. 785-9. Leavis, F. R. â€Å"From The Great Tradition.† A Practical Reader in Contemporary Literary Theory. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1996. 246-7 Mudrick, Marvin. â€Å"The Originality of Conrad.† World Literature Criticism. Ed. PollyVedder. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 1992. 782-5. Murfin, Ross C. Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness: A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989. Saà ¯d, Edward W. Culture and Imperialism. New York: Knopf, 1979. Wright, Elizabeth. â€Å"Psychoanalytic Criticism.† Encyclopedia Of Literature And Criticism. 1991 ed. 765-7.

How Business Strategy and Hr Strategy Are or Should Be Linked Together

Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management Anna Morozova Essay How business strategy and HR strategy are or should be linked together? Moscow, 2011 Departments are the entities organizations form to organize people, reporting relationships, and work in a way that best supports the accomplishment of the organization's goals. Departments are usually organized by functions such as human resources, marketing, administration, and sales. The forward thinking human resource department is devoted to providing effective policies, procedures, and people-friendly  guidelines and support  within companies.Additionally, the human resource function serves to make sure that the company mission,  vision,  values  or  guiding principles, the company metrics, and the factors that keep the company guided toward success are optimized. Of executives surveyed, 20% currently use the HR department as active and innovative business solution partners. 20% believe that the HR department should remai n as administrative overhead and only perform transactional work. But, 60% of the  executives are starting to expect the HR department to partner with others departments to improve the company’s core competencies and competitive advantages.Competitive pressure in a fast changing business world – pressures for sales, talent, and profits. Most CEO’s are held accountable for three general but powerful results: Increasing revenue, generating cash, and reducing costs. In order to focus on these three accountabilities, executives are discarding paradigms that no longer work as companies seek to stay in and grow their business. Many CEOs and CFOs are more interested in the payoff and are asking appropriate questions: What’s in it for the company? Where is the improvement in the revenue stream? How does this get us new customers and retain our current customers.Where is the proof of corporate performance enhancement metrics? Once they get solid answers to these questions from competent HR leaders, the CEOs are quick to change their thinking. To answer the payoff questions, recognize that a continual company-wide value chain analysis is critical to the success of any organization. Over the past decade, CEOs began demanding that their Human Resources departments deliver flawless functional work and become a knowledgeable partner with all other disciplines to advance the business plan of the company. Individual professional silos are breaking down.Disciplines such as finance, sales, marketing, operations, and HR no longer exist as stand-alone entities. They are inter-dependent with one another. Weakness of any one of the links inhibits other links from maximizing their efficiency and productivity. These three emerging concepts in the practice of HR bear examination: * What value does the HR department brings to the organization. Many HR teams lack a vision that includes their value to the organization. Do the HR department’s activitie s directly help the company achieve its broad business objectives?Are the HR team’s arguments for or against a business strategy credible to the other department heads at the decision making table? How are the HR department strategies that benefit the employees, the shareholders, the customers, and all other stakeholders in the organization, selected and implemented? * What value does the HR department generate for the customer – the end user of the company’s product or service? Sales and quality are no longer restricted to the sales and quality assurance teams. The HR department doesn’t just hire a salesperson based upon a manager’s request.The end result of HR’s recruiting and hiring efforts is that the customer who interacts with the new sales person receives continuing world class service from the company. HR shares the quality of the new hire with the other departmental silos to insure that the company is, or becomes, the vendor of choi ce for that customer. * The final of the three emerging concepts for the Human Resources Department is: What core business competencies must HR leaders possess in order to be credible strategic partners with the rest of the executive team?Each company and each industry can generate its own list of core business skills their teams must have that go beyond their individual specialties. This issue has become so critical that in graduate and undergraduate level business programs, new editions of Organizational Development textbooks are including chapters on financial calculations and ratios, corporate social responsibility, globalization, and major workforce diversity challenges, among others.The biggest barrier to profitability is ignorance – ignorance by many people about how the company makes money and how it achieves its objectives, and how all of the departmental silos are interdependent on each other. The myth that only finance people need to know about finance or that mark eting people are the only people who need to know about marketing is fast disappearing. In today’s business environment, profitable organizations require highly skilled employees who can solve complex problems using multi-disciplinary teams.Here are three examples how can HR be linked to profitability metrics: * A well known global company formed a group of HR professionals who developed processes and training programs in sales, customer service, workouts, project management, process improvement and leadership development that focused on critical performance issues for their internal and external customers. By partnering with operations, sales, and customer service they served as a catalyst to forge alliances, partnerships and agreements.Many of their efforts resulted in improved relationships that translated into â€Å"Preferred Provider Status†, which increased sales and lowered costs. All of their costs were liquidated by charging a fee for the service while creatin g net revenue. After two years, this HR group generated sales of $4 million and a profit margin in excess of 30% which was returned to the division budget at the end of each fiscal year. * Secondly, an HR team, partnering with the Audit staff, discovered that the accounts receivable turnover had moved from a preferred 30 days to 45 days during the past two years.They decided to let the chief credit officer go. The HR staff established criteria to identify candidates with the ability to reduce the ratio from 45 days back to 30 days. The HR staff recommended one candidate for hire. Within six months, the company’s DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) ratio was reduced to 35 days. * In a third case, while designing and negotiating a new health care and 401(k) plan, the HR leadership partnered with the sales and marketing team to determine if the cost of the program would erode the company’s market share and competitive pricing strategy.The resulting benefit program design achieve d its cost/benefit objectives without jeopardizing the company’s market share and pricing metrics. How do HR leaders and CEOs make the Human Resources Department to a Profitability Factor? Here are suggestions based on that the more employees become knowledgeably involved in the business, the better they will be able to become a more productive asset. * Develop a leadership development program that includes hands on training in all of the functional disciplines.For example, in the production department, identify the barriers that prevent managers from achieving efficiencies and savings; * Insist that Human Resources staff receive financial training so they understand the impact of cash flow, receivables, billing cycles, and so forth. If it is a public company, teach them how to read and understand company’s annual report. Reading the proxy statement is always informative – even if the information contained in it is reluctantly revealed, and occasionally masked w ith arcane accounting jargon; * Have HR staff participate in sales strategies, customer visits, and technology reviews.Encourage them to learn quality methods, process improvements techniques, terms and conditions, and contract negotiations with suppliers and customers. Engage them as process consultants (have them trained if necessary) so they can assist with growth initiatives; * Most importantly, hold all employees accountable for achieving the â€Å"critical numbers† established for your company. A superb HR department becomes irrelevant if the company is sliding into bankruptcy. The HR department's powerful value focuses on its contributions toward reversing the slide.It is important to Include HR employees as full business partners. They will rise to the occasion and surprise you by building your bottom line and becoming a profit center contributor as well as maintaining their traditional responsibilities – and they will be better at both. The intense and brutall y competitive business environment of our global and digital world needs the help of everyone in the company. Russian small enterprises do not practice the establishment of HR Departments in view of unprofitability of such a business organization.As the result, the majority of small enterprises do not develop any HR strategy. Thus I would like to present the unique HR strategy of Apple Inc. and how it is linked to company’s business strategy. Most firms strive to have a productive workforce. One of the best ways to measure workforce productivity is revenue per employee. Apple produces what can only be considered extraordinary revenue per employee; $2 million. A second measure of workforce productivity is profit per employee: nearly $478,000 for Apple (unbelievable considering it has a retail workforce).During 25 years Apple has been following the philosophy called â€Å"lean – management† which explains the prime drivers for Apple’s extraordinary employee productivity. For years, the leadership of Apple has followed the philosophy that having less is more, meaning that by purposely understaffing and operating with reduced funding, you can make the team more productive and innovative. Innovation at most firms is expensive because you must pay for a lot of trial and error.The lean approach, however, can improve innovation because with everything being tried, there simply isn’t enough time or money for major misses and re-do’s. â€Å"Unrealistic deadlines† at Apple mean that you have to get project problems solved early on, because there isn’t time to redo things over and over. Being lean forces the team to be more cohesive. Even providing a lean schedule forces everyone to be productive because they know there is no room for slippage. At Apple, the lean approach means that even with its huge cash resources, every employee must adopt the mentality of leanness.If you understand the lean concept and its advant ages, you shouldn’t be surprised that numerous innovations have been developed in â€Å"garages,† the ultimate lean environment. I have chosen an article â€Å"Human resource practices to attract and retain talents† by Hiltrop, 1999, because, in my opinion, it is very actual theme as businesses look for global growth, chronic skills gaps combined with a mismatch between demand and supply of talent means that getting (and keeping) the right people in the right places at the right time has never been more challenging.HR leaders need to mobilize talent to help businesses grow. This article explores one of the biggest issues and challenges now faced by large organizations: how to attract and retain a critical group of talented people. Getting talent management right means you can worry less about your talent problems and more about your business opportunities. It is very important to use a fact based approach to help identify the specific elements of talent manageme nt which drive the most value in your business and industry.It is needed to create a Talent Management Framework and Diagnostic to develop and implement strategies that deliver the right improvements – those that give you the best return on investment. So I can conclude that to win the war for talent, companies should figure out who they are aiming for, and then make sure the recruitment process and practices are tailored to the specific needs and expectations of the target group. I have chosen an article â€Å"Science and practice of HRM in small firms† by Mayson and Barret, 2006 because human capital (i. e. the knowledge, skills, and abilities of employees) is one of the primary factors a business can rely on to differentiate their products or services and build a competitive advantage; however, few studies directly guide managers of small and growing firms through the people management issues that they will face through the lifecycle of their business. The recogniti on that human resource issues are important to small and growing firms is not new. For instance, in 1987 (Hess) was presented data that suggested that small business owners rank human resource related issues as the second most important management activity after general management.Further, was suggested that the majority of CEO's believe that human resource practices have a substantial impact on firm performance. Additionally, in 2008 were presented the results suggesting that sound hiring practices and training programs are considered important by small business owners who have 10 or more employees. A small firms' ability to attract, motivate and retain employees by offering competitive salaries and appropriate rewards is linked to firm performance and growth.Whilst the evidence does show that there is some form of HRM in small firms, it also confirms that the practice is characterized by informality. I personally think, that this is a problem, because informal HRM practices do not necessarily recognize the value of employees. Despite the recognition of the importance of HRM to small, growing and entrepreneurial firms, there is very little research in the area, there is even less research that explores the strategic nature of HRM in small firms.It is important to note, that properly developing strategic selection, training, and compensation programs takes time and financial resources. However, these short-term costs are almost always balanced by long term gain because the quality and caliber of employees (or human capital) within the firm improves. The improved caliber of employees and enhanced effort almost always has a positive financial impact for the organization.

Faces of Aids: Gender Inequality and Hiv/Aids

Running Head: Face of AIDS: Gender Inequality and HIV/AIDS 1 Face of AIDS: Gender Inequality and HIV/AIDS Introduction The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which eventually develops into acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a devastating disease that has reached pandemic levels, affecting all populations worldwide. Since the first reported case of HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s, HIV/AIDS has become one of the leading causes of mortality across the globe in the history of mankind (U. S.Global Health Policy [USGHP], 2010). While HIV/AIDS has contributed significantly to the global burden of disease; amongst those living with HIV/AIDS, it has had devastating impacts on women and girls. Amid 40 million people living with HIVAIDS globally, virtually half of them are women (Quinn & Overbaugh, 2005). In addition, new infection rates have been escalating dramatically worldwide, with most centralized in developing countries (The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS [GCWA], n. d. ).In su b-Saharan Africa, women account for almost 60% of all infected adults, while girls account for approximately 75% of all infected young people between ages of 15 and 24 (Brijnath, 2007; Quinn & Overbaugh, 2005). In developing countries such as sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of women infected with HIV/AIDS is also on the rise, for every ten men infected with HIV/AIDS, 13 women are diagnosed HIV-positive (Brijnath, 2007). In developed countries such as United States, the incidence of HIV/AIDS had increased by 15% compared with 1% that of men from 1999 to 2003 (Quinn & Overbaugh, 2005).These alarming statistics imply an ominous future for women and girls affected by the disease – feminization of HIV/AIDS. This paper will highlight the burden of disease implications on gender inequality in developing nations. Running Head: Face of AIDS: Gender Inequality and HIV/AIDS 2 Feminization of HIV/AIDS When HIV/AIDS cases were first reported, it was viewed that HIV/AIDS was a disease a mongst homosexual men, and the main modes of transmission were through men who have sex with men (MSM).Presently, however, 80% of infections were contracted through heterosexual sex while 19% were through drug injections (Quinn & Overbaugh, 2005). It is evident that women and girls are bearing a hefty portion of the burden of HIV/AIDS. Women and girls are socially, physically, and biologically more vulnerable to HIV/AIDs transmissions and stigma associated with the disease. On the societal level, women in developing countries are perceived as being inferior, which is the root cause of gender profiling and stigma towards this group (Quinn & Overbaugh, 2005).The society have set the stage for women and girls to be more susceptible to means for HIV/AIDS transmission; furthermore infringing on their freedom of choice. Due to cultural structure and gender norms, women and girls are deprived of education, thus they grow to be economically dependent on men. This limits their autonomy to re fuse sexual liaisons with their intimate partner. For instance, the practice of safe sex through condom usage is mainly the males’ choices, while women have restricted negotiation power (Mulligan, 2006). The minority status of women in developing countries thus exposes them to high rates of HIV/AIDS infections.Gender norms impacts of HIV/AIDS are discerning and even more harmful towards women and girls because they face stigmatization and discrimination on a greater magnitude than men. An ethnographic study conducted by Carr et al. (2004) reported that women were more concerned about the psychosocial insinuations affiliated with being HIV-positive, rather Running Head: Face of AIDS: Gender Inequality and HIV/AIDS 3 than the adverse health outcomes of the disease. The fear of stigmatization accompanying disclosure of HIV-positive status has hindered women from reaching out for appropriate and necessary medical and mental support.Stigma and discrimination have shown to have neg ative effects on women’s mental and physical wellbeing because they suffer from social isolation and low self-esteem (Carr & Gramling, 2004). This has not only resulted in the under-representation of HIV-positive women, it has also created barriers for women to attain better health (Carr & Gramling, 2004). Being physically inferior to men, women are prone to be coerced and being victims of sexual violence. These factors contribute to escalating infection rates because there is an increasing likelihood for survival sex work (Brijnath, 2007).Attributable to poverty and lack of education, women resolve to prostitution for survival. The combination of lack of knowledge regarding practices of safe sex and frequent encounters of sexual partners further enhance women and girls’ vulnerabilities to contracting the disease. Sexual violence is also a common theme among women living with HIV/AIDS (Rountree & Mulraney, 2008). Moreover, it has also been suggested that women are biol ogically more susceptible to disease progression of HIV/AIDS when taking hormonal contraceptives (Quinn & Overbaugh, 2005).The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS The feminization of HIV/AIDS is evident, and requires serious attention. Gender inequality in developing countries has placed significant burden of disease on women, and has been the propelling force for feminization of HIV/AIDS pandemic. In recognizing and fully comprehending the severity of this pandemic, The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS (GCWA) has taken initiative towards fighting for a brighter future for women on a national level. Running Head: Face of AIDS: Gender Inequality and HIV/AIDS 4GCWA is an UNAIDS collaborative effort, which involves diverse networks of organizations and political bodies to alleviate this burden of disease on women and girls (GCWA, n. d. ). The objectives of GCWA are to provide necessary medical attention to those in need, raising awareness, mitigate violence against women, and promote gender equality. GCWA tackles issues concerned with gender inequality and the adverse impacts it has had on women. Public Health Intervention Recommendation Gender inequality and inferiority are the undertow that has deteriorated the feminization trend of HIV/AIDS.Public health initiatives should focus on empowering women and improving their independence. This can be achieved through specialized support systems that educate and raise public awareness of the roots and gravity of the situations. Furthermore, this should be complemented with employment referencing and acquisition support programs to enrich their economic autonomy. Conclusion HIV/AIDS has become a feminizing pandemic, resulting in disproportionate burden of disease on women and girls. Traditional subordination of women as minorities has exacerbated the severity of the issues.Global Coalition on Women and AIDs is a comprehensive initiative that targets the root of this problem. Future initiatives for decreasing this gap of gender inequality should emphasize on empowering women and promoting their autonomy. Running Head: Face of AIDS: Gender Inequality and HIV/AIDS 5 References Brijnath, B. (2007). It’s about time: Engendering AIDS in Africa. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 9(4), 371-386. Carr, R. L. , & Gramling, L. F. (2004). Stigma: A health barrier for women with HIV/AIDS. Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 15(5), 30-39. Mulligan, S. (2006). Women and HIV/AIDS.The Furrow, 57(4), 232-238. Quinn, T. C. , & Overbaugh, J. (2005). HIV/AIDS in women: An expanding epidemic. Women’s Health, 308, 1582-1583. Rountree, M. A. , & Mulraney, M. (2008). HIV/AIDS risk reduction intervention for women who have experienced intimate partner violence. Clinical Social Work Journal, 38, 207-216. The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS. (n. d. ). About GCWA. Retrieved March 25, 2011, from http://www. womenandaids. net/about-gcwa. aspx U. S. Global Health Policy. (2010). AIDS deaths (adults an d children) 2009. Retrieved March 27, 2011, from http://www. globalhealthfacts. org/topic. jsp? i=7