Strategic Human Resource Management free essay sample

In chapter one they describe the models of human resource management. There are five major HRM models. First, is The Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna model, which use four key components to increase organizational performance. The components are selection, appraisal, development, and rewards. The next model is The Harvard model, which is offered by Beer et al. It has six basic components which are: situational factors, stakeholder interests, HRM policy choices, HR outcomes, Long-term consequences, and a feedback loop where the outputs go to the organization and the stakeholders. The third model is The Guest model. David Guest demonstrates in his model that HRM differs from personal management. The key components in his model are: an HR strategy, a set of HR policies, a set of HR outcomes, behavioral outcomes, a number of performance outcomes, and financial outcomes. The next model is the Warwick model is similar to the Harvard model but it goes more in depth by focusing on its key characteristics. We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic Human Resource Management or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The main elements of this model are: outer context, inner context, business strategy content, HRM context and HRM content. The last model is the Storey model. It has four main elements, which are: beliefs and assumptions, strategic aspects, the role of line managers, and key levers. In this model, Storey believes that there are differences between â€Å"personnel and industrials† and the HRM model by making an â€Å"ideal type†. Strategic Management is a process used by corporations to help them determine the long term productivity with managerial decisions and actions. Both these models and Strategic Management are made to help improve the productivity of businesses. The model that best represents a strategic approach is the integrative model of human resource strategy. It is the most strategic because it takes the strengths of the control-based model and the strengths of the resource-based model and combines them. The control-based model is used to supervise and control employee role performance. This means that managers have to come up with a system to ensure their workers are working to the best of their capabilities and are satisfied at the same time. It is more focused on managerial control. The resource-based model is more focused on the reward-effort aspect. They see their employees as an asset instead of thinking of them as a variable cost. The integrative model uses both of these ideologies and uses them in one model. This model has two main dimensions. It uses acquisition and development and locus of control. Acquisition and development means the company can either develop their employees or go our and acquire them from other companies. Locus of control focuses on monitoring employees. The main reason the integrative model is more strategic is because of its four ideal types of dominant HR strategy. They are: commitment, collaborative, paternalistic, and traditional. These four ideals break down the main points of the first two models. Commitment is focused on the outcome control and developing employees internally. Traditional is used for more process based controls and external recruiting of ability. Collaborative is basically outsourcing work. It is based on subcontracting work to people outside the company and evaluates the outcome. Paternalistic takes care of their employees. It offers opportunities for their employees to learn and be promoted by complying to the process-based control. c) There are three HRM approaches to organizations operating internationally. They are: adaptive, exportive, and integrative. The First, an adaptive IHRM orientation is where each affiliate of the parent has its own HRM system. This is to help the firms be more aware of the local culture. This orientation is more focused on differentiation rather than integration because it needs to know the local environment and each environment is different. A lot of the top manangers of corporations will hire local HR practitioners who know the surroundings well and are knowledgeable. The second, an exportive IHRM orientation is where the parent’s system is replicated to its different affiliates in overseas countries and emphasizes that the partners integrate and don’t differentiate. The negative side of exportive is that the IHRM approach can be viewed as inflexible. The inflexibility may lead firms away from the imposed practice HQ would want. The third approach is integrative. This is where the orientation combines both exportive and adaptive. Which means it uses the characteristics of the parent companys HRM system along with those of its international affiliates. By using the integrative approach it tries to use the best HRM approaches and exercise them throughout the whole organization (local and global). HRM policies and practices can transfer throughout the organization. It can go in any direction, from affiliate to affiliate, or from affiliate to the parent firm or from the parent firm to an affiliate. d) When running a business internationally there are a few limitations companies must be aware of to be fair and ethical. Companies should know what the cultures and beliefs are of the countries when taking their business internationally so that they do not offend people, which could hurt their expansion into these countries. It is important for companies to fulfill the customer’s likes and preferences in various locations. This means a company might have to produce a product or service that meets the needs and wants of the local people and is sensitive to their culture. Companies should be aware of differences in each country’s infrastructure. For example in certain countries they drive on the other side of the road and the driver is on the other side of the car. Car companies would have to be aware of this when they are designing products or services for these countries. A MNC should watch over â€Å"employment relations, consumer products, ecological controls and local testing†. They should be regulating all of the above as well as the exogenous factors so that they don’t harm the hoist countries employees, impede on their beliefs, produce products that won’t benefit the locals, and don’t destroy the local environment. Some companies have operated internationally because it is cheaper to hire workers and because the operating regulations aren’t as strict. In the past this has caused big controversies and disasters such as the one in Bhopal, India. Some countries have different beliefs about women working than others so companies would have to be careful when hiring women in certain positions so that they don’t offend the foreign country’s values. Companies should be careful when hiring women bosses. Especially exporting women bosses because not only is this taking jobs away from local people but it could cause an uproar in the community. This could be viewed as discrimination but unfortunately it is the way it goes in some countries. 2. The organization I am very familiar with is McDonald’s. McDonald’s is one of the biggest fast food chains in the world so it is important to have a good Human Resource Management system in place. Human Resources role in McDonald’s is to promote a high performance culture that is backed up by talented people and organizational resources necessary for maintaining greater business performance. They plan to achieve this by making processes, providing tools and passing on knowledge to leaders needed for developing and continuously improving its company’s culture. The HR practices that McDonald’s implements into its business are as follows. They deal with recruiting and hiring of employees, performance management, wages and salaries, organizational development, development and training of employees, safety, communication, employee motivation and benefits. Most of these practices are used in a strategic approach to Human Resource Management. They appear to have different branches of HR working on different things to zone in on certain aspects of the company to maximize their company’s output. For instance they have branches of HR working specifically on development and training of employees and within that branch there is a team working on a program called McMasters which entails the training and recruiting of workers that are older than 55 years of age. They also have another program that helps train physically handicapped people to work at McDonald’s. These two areas are specialized for certain people where as the rest of the McDonald’s workforce would normally train on the job and learn through something called â€Å"Welcome Meeting† which is mandatory and during this they would learn their job role, food, hygiene, safety training, policies and procedures, administration, benefits, and training and development. If you wanted to become a manager one would go to HU (Hamburger University) for their training and education. This is one example on how they are using a strategic approach because they are grooming and training their employees for possibly a long career rather than a short one. They are putting effort into educating their employees so that they help better McDonald’s future. Another way they are using a strategic approach is they are educating and training their managers at each branch to handle certain HR problems that would normally go to the HR department but instead can be handled on site. Another important task of HR is to make sure that they are fair and hire based on ability and not on race, religion, or sex. McDonald’s has made it a point to have a diverse workforce for which they are known for being one of the best companies for hiring minorities. They have their own branch dedicated to recruiting and hiring employees. Some examples of how they accomplish this is through job fairs at a university or in a community, advertising in a McDonald’s restaurant, or through their website. When dealing with the performance of their employees they use rewards and awards to show their accomplishments. An example of this would be their employee of the week or employee of the month plaques, which are shown on a wall in the office. Since they are such a big company they need a separate sector of HR dedicated to wages and salaries of the employees. The wages and salaries are based on experience and level of employee. Some ways McDonald’s are motivating their employees are through performance rewards and benefits such as health and insurance, compensation, rewards (money or promotion), and a recognition program. McDonald’s has applied a K/3 HR system into their company, which allows managers observe and keep updated their employee’s information of past and present. This system allows the manager to record personnel management, payroll management, and performance management. For example if an old McDonald’s employee decided to return to McDonald’s to work the manager could use the K/3 system to look up their old information and get a better understanding of where this person should be placed within the organization, what kind of salary they should earn, and what kind of benefits they should receive. These are the reasons why I think McDonald’s has done an excellent job at implementing a Strategic approach to Human Resource Management. They have taken the old HR and branched off making areas more specific and therefore more informative and beneficial. They have focused more on the long-term goals of the company rather than short-term goals. They have given more power and information to managers at franchises to be able to deal with HR problems when they arise. They have job division in their company but they try to have each employee experience each job so that they broaden their abilities, which is a form of SHRM.

Rhetorical situation and solution to a business

Rhetorical situation and solution to a business Executive summary This report intensively addresses the challenge related to use of social media in businesses. Research studies have documented that there are quite a number of business organizations that are unable to properly manage their social media sites. Due to inefficient and ineffective business management strategies, many users of social networks have become victims of privacy violations.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Rhetorical situation and solution to a business specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The use of, or viewing of personal materials without express permission from the copyright owner is a violation that demeans intellectual property. Due to lack of thorough regulation, many internet users especially in sites like Nazsa-Klasa, XING, Facebook and Twitter have tremendously violated privacy laws (Basu 49). Lack of strict regulation may be due to the fact that most governments and management teams ha ve given the issue of violation of privacy a laissez-faire approach. The effects seen in escalating infringements of privacy is a clear show of failure of social media managers (Hader Brown 270). Proper strategies should be instituted, laws against violations tightened and free flow of information managed. This report aims at evaluating possible solutions to this lack of privacy, a problem generated by lack of well established security measures by social media business owners. The following criteria will be used to evaluate possible solutions: Is the solution practical? Is it cost effective? Will it enhance privacy and promote positive behaviour? To research on this problem, secondary data collection method was applied to gather reliable and informative materials. From the findings, the following solutions were proposed: Control of free flow of information Enhancing security and laws Introduction Aim The aim of this report is to evaluate possible solutions in business management challenges in social media. The objective intends to determine the management issues that have contributed to lack of privacy in social media sites such as Facebook, twitter and MySpace.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The report intends to provide the social media companies and governments with recommendation in order to minimize the negative aspects of encroachment on privacy. Background It may prove difficult to draw clear difference between infringement of personal privacy and fair usage of social media due to the availability and ease with online materials can be accessed at any given time (Hader Brown 270). One may not know which video files, songs or pictures to upload and use without permission. As such, many social media sites users have found themselves using, distributing, sharing and accessing private materials online (Palfrey 6). Research studies hav e attributed this to failure in the role of the manager of social media companies such as Facebook, twitter and YouTube to protect themselves and their users from infringement of privacy. According to the studies carried out by recent empirical researchers, loss of privacy can be minimized by designing an End User License Agreement (EULA), a term of service that will to some level, control loss of privacy especially on copyright infringement (Basu 52; Hader Brown 270). Tackling this management problem will save social media companies from heavy losses due to payment of huge fines for any form of privacy infringed. Additionally, it will save the image of social media sites from severe damage linked to sites where the rate of infringement of privacy is high. The use of, or viewing of personal materials without express permission from the owner is a violation that demeans intellectual property of the owner (Palfrey 11). Due to lack of thorough regulation, many internet users especiall y in sites like facebook have tremendously violated privacy laws. Lack of strict regulation may be due to the fact that most governments and management teams have given the issue of violation of privacy a laissez-faire approach (Hader Brown 273). This has immensely contributed to increase in violation of privacy. On the same note, distribution of private materials in the internet has become commonplace (Palfrey 14). Theft, unauthorized access to materials of other internet users and distribution of illegal copyrighted materials like movies, music, photographs, literature and games have tremendously increased (Hader Brown 272). Modern technology has necessitated sharing and uploading files in social networks. A bigger portion of the uploaded and shared materials infringes on copyright and privacy.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Rhetorical situation and solution to a business specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Scope This report aims at evaluating possible solutions to lack of privacy, a problem generated by lack of well established security measures by social media business owners. Plan This report will highlight the main causes of violation of privacy in social media. Additionally, it will discuss possible solutions from the findings and provide practical recommendations that will aid the management of social media companies in devising solutions to privacy issues. Research plan and methodology In order to thoroughly investigate and analyse failure of social media businesses to protect the privacy of their customers and provide solutions, the information used for this research was gathered from primary and secondary data. Information from secondary data came from books, journals, literature materials and magazines. The researcher used literature sources to examine social media business, their characteristics, main debates and challenges that tend to face them in their operations. Primary data was collected from focus groups which included social media business owners and customers or user of social media sites through the use of questionnaires, individual depth interviews and group interviews. Secondary data was obtained from two broad methods. These included quantitative and qualitative methods. The former comprised of various databases which contained information privacy infringement especially with regard to social media. Some of the resource materials for quantitative analysis of this research study included published books, peer reviewed journals, newspapers, magazines and credible websites. In conducting interviews, respondents were picked at random. The questions that were asked included: How does it make you feel to know that social media sites do not fully offer privacy to their customers? Where do you think the problem lies? Will improving privacy affect your business? As a customer, if the problem persists, what would be your own solution to safeguard your p rivacy? Findings and discussions According to the interviews conducted, results indicated that infringement of privacy in social media sites has become commonplace today. This, they pointed out, is due to free flow and access of information and files. As such, accessing owners’ files has increased to a point where individuals encroach on the privacy of others.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Besides, another result from the interview indicated that many people enjoyed services given by social media businesses through social sites in the sense that those sites offered users opportunities to connect in almost every area in life. Indeed, these sites have numerous benefits that touch both social and economic sectors. It gives the user the access to the intrinsic value of the social world (Palfrey 17). This is practical in the sense that if you have a brand or an organization, and a potential researcher sees your profile, can easily access you (Basu 49). Moreover, other results indicated that the use of or viewing of individuals’ materials without express permission from the owner is a violation that demeans intellectual property of the owner. The respondents argued that due to lack of thorough regulation, many internet users, especially in sites like facebook have tremendously violated privacy laws. They indicated the problem was lack of strict regulation on access a nd use of materials. This may be due to the fact that most governments and social media business management teams have given the issue of violation of privacy a laissez-faire approach (Palfrey 9). The action of uploading and sharing this material privately or publicly violates copyright. It amounts to theft and piracy, which is infringement of a person’s right through prohibited manufacture of copyright work and selling to other people. Valuable products have been produced through Facebook, and distributed across the internet. Evaluative criteria In seeking the best solution to the business problem discussed, the following criteria will be used to weigh against possible solutions. Is the solution practical? The solution to the business management problem must be practical and achievable by considering capabilities of the business and the personalities of individuals whose privacy has been violate. Is it cost effective? In terms of managing the cost of improving their syst ems to enhance security, a social media business needs to have finances that can effectively cover the cost. A cheaper solution is critical in a situation where a business needs to save money. Will it enhance privacy and promote positive behaviour? The solution must ensure privacy, change the behaviour of social site users and be above criticism. Overview of possible solutions Control free flow of information Apart from the many benefits of social media, it carries with it negatives aspects that include provision of room for infringement of privacy of users. From the findings, this is due to the free flow of materials across the internet. It is therefore important that social media business companies formulate plans and methods that will ensure that they control and regulate materials that are released through their sites. Security The use of or viewing of individuals’ materials without express permission from the owner is a violation that demeans intellectual property of t he owner. Due to insecurity in form of hacking and accessing private files, many internet users, especially in sites like facebook have had their privacy tremendously violated. It is imperative that the management of social sites as well as the governments devise appropriate methods of dealing with violators of privacy. Laws There is need for laws on privacy and security in the social sites be increased and strictly observed. Besides, the government should come up with effective laws that will ensure that those who violate other peoples’ privacy are apprehended and punished. Inasmuch as internet service business providers are being given security, they should be held responsible for transmitting or storing infringing contents a user decides to upload, keep or share without the knowledge of the knowledge company Evaluation of solutions against criteria Is the solution practical? Controlling free flow of information by social media business can be attained. This is easily attai nable since social media businesses are in full control of their systems and as such, they can implement changes and follow them up to ensure their effectiveness. Besides, their systems create capabilities that can regulate flow of information. Through these capabilities, social media business can improve security measures, thus maintain customer satisfaction, achieved overall strategic goals and increased their service processes (Raab 34). In terms of security, social media business can use their capabilities through information technology, to manage, combine organizational knowledge, integrate technology and coordinate efforts toward enhancing user security (Raab 34). This will ensure that their customers’ privacy is well protected. Additionally, more strict laws on violation of privacy should be created by governments and social media businesses top protect social media users. Is it cost effective? In terms of managing the cost of improving their systems to enhance securit y, social media businesses have finances that can effectively cover the cost. Today, social media businesses have their streams of technologies integrated and diverse service production coordinated (Raab 34). Through this, it streamlines its cost and enhances customers’ perceived value and creates new sites that are competitively unique. Will it enhance privacy and promote positive behaviour? Regulating free flow of information, enhancing the security of social media site users and creating strict laws against violation of individuals’ privacy will enhance privacy. Implementing the aforementioned critical changes will indeed be a turning point to positive behaviour by users. Enhancing security systems and controlling free flow of information will deny users access to personal materials and hence reduce incidences of violations. Recommendations The conclusion that is derived from evaluating possible solutions indicates that it is necessary to combine the possible soluti ons to attain privacy of users and reduce violations. Therefore, the following recommendations are necessary to be implemented: Social media business companies to formulate plans and methods that will ensure that they control and regulate materials that are released through their sites Management of social sites as well as governments to devise appropriate methods of dealing with violators of privacy. Governments should come up with effective laws that will ensure that those who violate other peoples’ privacy are apprehended and punished. The government should come up with better ways to handle this form of intellectual property violation. It should avail funds for the government law enforcement departments both at the local and the state levels so that it is possible to investigate privacy infringements. Conclusions To sum up, it is imperative to note that the distribution of private materials in the internet has indeed become commonplace and a growing challenge to war aga inst intellectual property violation. Theft, unauthorized access to materials of other internet users and distribution of illegal copyright materials like movies, music, photographs, literature and games have tremendously increased. Modern technology has also necessitated sharing and uploading files in social networks. A bigger portion of the uploaded and shared materials infringes on copyright. Therefore, as the report has analysed, this can be attributed to social media business management challenge which has become slack in offering protection to users as well as in controlling the flow of information in the internet. As a matter of fact, while social media have accelerated business growth especially among organisations with online presence, the challenge posed by the use of this modern age communication tool is proving to be a growing managerial concern. Basu, Choton. Quest for Universal Identification A Commentary. Journal of Information Privacy Security 5.3 (2009): 44-54. H ader, Amy Brown, Evan. Patient Privacy and Social Media. AANA Journal 78.4 (2010): 270-274. Palfrey, John. The challenge of developing effective public policy on the use of social media by Youth. Federal Communications Law Journal 63.1 (2010): 5-18. Raab, David. Marketing Systems for Online Media: If a single common problem threatens the outbound campaign systems, its the need to handle unstructured data. Information Management 20.2 (2010): 34.

Internet as a Waste of Time Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Internet as a Waste of Time - Essay Example Most people without internet are not able to receive news on time, and the much they receive compared to the amount accessed in the internet is very little. Most researchers, apart from their field or laboratory work, acquire statistics and facts via the internet. On the other hand, students, lecturers and persons get lots of information that they need easily from the internet instead of consuming much time in libraries searching for their preferred piece of work. Thus, from the internet, information access is easy hence saving time. Currently, businesses conduct their activities through the internet. This helps them save a lot of time. The major improvement in the business world is the online buying and selling of goods and services. For instance, boutiques display their products online using their blogs and interested customers shop online. This saves on time as in normal cases; customers are required to go to the boutiques to shop. Interviews in most businesses have gone online wh ereby the interviewees send their CVs and related documents hence the interviews take place. Therefore, much time consumption reduces. Internet use boosts Self-development. People are able to share their ideas and talents largely via internet. Talented individuals display their work in audio, video and written forms. They develop their talents and boost their esteem through the positive criticism they receive, for example like and comments. Civic awareness is important for all individuals and is widely gained through the internet. Civilization of individuals is automatic for internet users thus saving time on awareness campaigns. Internet sites enhance making friends, a major part of everyone, for example twitter. (Mark, 2006) in his article- â€Å"Scientists: Internet, Chat rooms Good for Teenagers.† published in the London Times quoted, â€Å"Regular users of teen chat rooms tend to be more engaged with their communities than the rest of their age group, and their online i dentities play an important role in the self-discovery of adolescence, researchers said† (Ward, 2008). The internet serves as a tool for communication. There are many internet sites for communication today such as facebook, twitter, my space and many more. Users reach each other both locally and internationally easily through the internet. This mode of communication saves money, as these sites are very cheap to access. Time is also highly saved, as the internet is fast and highly effective. For instance electronic mails.†The internet is not diminishing community activity, but simply transferring it to online communities.† (Justine, 2001), a professor of communication studies at Northwestern University said this. Internet is the utmost source of entertainment globally. Internet users access different forms of entertainment such as, music, movies, games and other exciting activities. People save time as people do not have to wait for the release of tangible forms of entertainment, that is compact discs, DVDs etc (Solove, 2007). The youth especially do not need to go out to dance clubs, cinema theatres, frequently to get entertained as internet offers them the source for their preferred choices. The use of internet has reduced manual labor force for many companies and industries. Hiring many employees is now an outdated practice thus saving time for interviews and money that used to pay the workers. Politically, online voting has reduced time wastage for both the government

Strategic management accounting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Strategic management accounting - Assignment Example Furthermore, to increase the range of profitability, to ensure the resources, which are available, are used in the most required and desired way for the purpose of attaining and maintaining the short term and long term goals of the organisation, budgets are mostly used with this intention as well. After this part, a more critical discussion will be done on the traditional concept of standard costing. The uses and purposes of standard costing would be highlighted and discussed in the most appropriate way. The main purpose of standard costing is to provide a planned unit cost of a product. On the other hand, the main uses of standard costing are to provide a standard to measure the performance measurement, stock valuation, control and the establishment of selling price of different products. Standard cost is self-assumed and planned cost given to a product for the purpose of comparing it with the actual cost and cost price of the product. This actual and planned comparison of the cost and price is greatly required and used by the management. There are different uses offered and given by this comparison. The original and true efficiency and effectiveness of the organisations can easily be compared with the given set of the standard cost. This comparison would clearly highlight whether the required level of organisational short term and long term goals and objectives are achieved or the management has failed to achieve the required level of organisational objectives in the most required way and most required manner. There are different types of budgets: Zero based budgeting and activity based budgeting. Zero based budgeting is totally a new approach towards the understanding of the concept of budgeting. Traditionally, budgeting is made by adding some additional percentage to the previous year budgeting and implementing it in this added budget in the current year. But, this is not done as far as zero based budgeting is concerned. Here, the activity of budgeting gets started from scratch. Additionally, the budget maker is required to give and produce a statement authenticating the true and valid reasons and causes to justify any additions or to justify any reductions in the zero based budgeting. Also, it is very much expected of the budget manager to prioritise the entire set of activities by also providing and giving a reasonable explanation for prioritising any set of activities. On the other hand, activity based budgeting provides an additional source that can be used for the purpose of doing the activity of budgeting. In this budgeting, first certain targets are determined and highlighted. After determining the certain targets, then activities are highlighted and determined for the purpose of attaining and meeting those targets with the help of these activities. Afterwards, only those available and required resources are used that help and ensure the attainment of these targets. The activity based budgeting facilitates the identification of such opportunities that help to reduce cost and eliminate those factors that are wasteful. Activity based budgeting highlights and helps management to constantly pursue the areas that have improvements. Budget is defined as ‘a quantitative statement for a defined period of time,

Psychology Prediction Essay Example for Free

Psychology Prediction Essay According to one of my favorite philosophers, Yogi Berra, Its hard to predict, especially the future†. He’s right but it doesn’t stop many people from trying. In fact predicting the future is essential to many aspects of our lives – in business, and beyond. Many professionals have the need to accurately predict outcomes of the future to be successful in their jobs. And many have occupations where predicting the future actually is their job, one way or another. As an analyst at Gartner, I am of course a good example of this. Some of this is common sense. Some is controversial. Some goes completely against what most think and against what people are taught even at organizations who train people to do predictive type jobs. But it works for me. Here are my ten guiding principles for accurate prediction: 1.Care about being right. This sounds obvious but circumstances and other requirements often get in the way. Professionals whose job involves making predictions face pressures to have an opinion, no matter what, and to generate visibility. This can lead to quickly formed opinions and overstating and over hyping things. While these things may in fact need to be part of a strategy, they do not have to be the primary goal. Tempering such behavior by placing the goal of being right at a higher priority is one of the real keys to accurate prediction. You can’t be afraid to be wrong, but you can’t place being right at lower priority and expect to be good at predicting. 2.Be an â€Å"innumerate†. Be extremely skeptical of any numbers. Many believe that numbers don’t lie. They don’t of course, but people do. And they state the numbers that they want to state to make their case. And they get things confused. Numbers are more useful in looking back at history than in predicting (looking back at history is helpful and numbers can help). Be especially wary of survey data. Often the questions are poorly formed and the respondents not necessarily knowledgeable. There is no substitute for talking directly to people to make sure that you understand context and that they understand the question. And follow-up is possible. 3.Ask yourself â€Å"Why are they telling me this?† Understand the motivations of sources of information. Everyone you meet has some type of agenda. Sometimes it is truly to educate you, usually not. It is critical to understand what the source of information wants you to think to put the information into context. 4.Ask yourself â€Å"What would I do†? Put yourself in the shoes of the CEO or key decision maker of the entity if possible. This is a key tool to predicting how companies and organizations will behave. If the prediction is about that company, this is the major key. If it is more general, putting yourself in the shoes of multiples and playing out scenarios is helpful. 5.Recognize that most of the time, you will know less than your sources. The world is full of specialists. Depending on circumstance, you may know as much as your sources but there is almost always someone who is more of an expert than you. So you need to develop strategies for assessing the credibility and honesty of a source. A useful tactic is to lead a discussion towards an area in which you do know a lot and test the source’s honesty and credibility. This can help determine what weight to give the source 6.Don’t jump to conclusions. Whenever possible take your time. When pushed for an opinion, it is best to say â€Å"if I had to have an opinion I would lean towards x†, but not highlight these types of things as â€Å"predictions†. 7.Find â€Å"bubbles†, conventional thinking and poke at assumptions. Try to understand why most people have a certain belief and figure out what assumptions they have. Look for misunderstandings, confusion, motivations and social trends. 8.Get information you’re not supposed to have. Basic networking is essential to knowing your subject and to getting information you’re not supposed to have (Obviously those subject to â€Å"insider trading† types of issues need to tread carefully here). Listen for slip ups. Put the pieces together. Fill in the holes. Speculate. 9.â€Å"You’re only paranoid if you’re wrong†. Explore conspiracy theories. While they usually won’t be the prediction, the exercise of examining possible conspiracy theories often is fruitful. Remember At the very least there is bound to be some aspect of the theory that has some truth to it and may point the way towards a good prediction. However, it is far more likely that stupidity or laziness, rather than conspiracy, is the cause. 10.Constantly test, validate and refine. Every chance you get to talk to a person whose opinion you respect, test new theories. Every chance you talk to a source of information, test your theories and gauge their reactions. Be open to tweaks.

Understanding the Holocaust through Art Spiegelmans Maus Essay

The experience of being in the Holocaust is hard to imagine. The physical pain and fear that a survivor of the Holocaust felt could never fully be understood by anyone other than a fellow survivor. The children of survivors may not feel the physical pain and agony as their parents did, but they do feel the psychological effects. For this reason Artie and his father could never connect. The Holocaust built a wall between them that was hard to climb. Artie makes an attempt to overcome the wall between him and his father by writing the comic Maus about his father’s life in hopes to grow closer to him and understand him better, yet he struggles in looking past his father’s picky habits and hypocritical attitude. Artie’s father, Valdek, as he knew him growing up was stingy. He was stingy with money, food, matches, and even toothpicks. All the food on his plate had to be eaten, or it would be served to him the next night and the night after that until it was gone. Valdek’s obsessive behavior about not wasting anything aggravated Artie to no end. "He grabs paper towels from restrooms so he won’t have to buy napkins or tissues," vented Artie to his stepmother. Once Artie used an extra match and Valdek yelled at him for his wastefulness. His life could never compare to how hard Valdek’s was, and this bothered Artie. At the very opening of the story, Artie cries because his friends leave him when he falls off his skates and his father tells him that, "If you lock them together in a room with no food for a week then you could see what it is, friends!" All things relate to the Holocaust for Valdek and this makes Artie feel guilty for not having such a hard life and fo r that feeling of guilt Artie becomes angry and distances himself fr... ...in his life still plagued him. As a result he wrote Maus. It not only allowed him to enter into his father’s world, but also gave him an objective view of his relationship with his father. He spent many afternoons with his father in his pursuit of understanding. He became aware of the events in his father’s past, but still could not comprehend why his father could not put it behind him. He could not understand why other survivors of the Holocaust could move on, but his father could not. Artie is overwhelmed by the events of his life. He is dealing with the death of his mother, and a father who can’t let go of the past. He longs to understand the world of his father and talk to him once without arguing, but the walls have been built up too high that even after his father’s death, although more enlightened, he is just as confused as to who his father was.

“Ozymandias” Themes Essay

The message or theme of the poem of â€Å"Ozymandias† is that man is insignificant and his efforts are vain when compared to the forces of time and nature. Shelly expertly uses diction in the poem to portray important ideas. By encompassing time and nature into a theme Shelley brings a divine sense to the poem. To consider the issue of the power of time and nature, the poet has the narrator reporting on a meeting with a traveler from ‘an antique land’ or Egypt, who told of seeing in the desert, the remains of a vast statue. Only the legs remained standing. The trunk was missing and the shattered face lay half buried in the sand, he told that the sculptor had skillfully captured the ‘frown, the wrinkled lip, and sneer’ on the ‘shattered visage’ through ‘passions well read.’ The importance of this traveler is that of symbolism. The traveler symbolizes the power that ‘Ozymandias’ has lost in his death. In health he was one of the most powerful people alive but now it takes a wandering traveler to spread a tale of the once great king. The power of nature is well represented by this part of the poem also. ‘Ozymandias’ told his subjects to ‘look on my works; ye Mighty, and despair!’ however, thanks to the power of nature there are barely and works left to look upon at all, let alone despair upon! It can be seen that nature has destroyed his works in the quotes, ‘shattered visage’ and ‘sand, half sunk.’ Thus the major theme of the poem is reavealed. The statue is described as a â€Å"colossal wreck boundless and bare† drawing a parallel for the reason in which it was built. The condition of the stones, descriptively worded by Shelley, only emphasizes the despair drawn into the stone by the sculptor’s hand. By using words such as â€Å"frown†, â€Å"sneer†, and â€Å"mocked†, the author provides us with a slight portrait of â€Å"Ozymandias.† It gives us a picture of a powerful king with no motivation or reason to smile. The phrase ‘cold command† portrays him as a militaristic leader that has seen more death and destruction than a whole army and has come to realize that even he is not able to compete with the Almighty. Shelley’s words â€Å"lifeless†, â€Å"decay†, and â€Å"wreck† apply not only to the statue the author is describing but also to the sculptor of the statue. These words encompass his entire being, and go far into bringing â€Å"Ozymandias alive in the reader. Shelley cunningly uses Nature and time to bring in the â€Å"Mighty† one. God is the only being that has been around since time and Nature began. He represents what â€Å"Ozymandias† could not achieve and that is immortality. â€Å"Ozymandias† did however leave a mark on the world but in time even that too will be overcome by the relentless forces of Nature and time that is God. In conclusion, the main themes of the poem are nicely summed up in mans insignificance to time and nature. Shelley also puts across the idea of despair superbly through delicate and subtle use of diction.