Commands to the computer Essay

Function keys across the top Letter keys in the main section A numeric keypad on the right Cursor movement and editing keys between the main section and the numeric keypad. The layout of the letters on a keyboard is standard across many countries and is called a QWERTY keyboard. The name comes from the first six keys on the top row of the alphabetic characters. Some keyboards come with added keys for using the Internet and others have an integrated wrist support. Ergonomic keyboards have been developed to reduce the risk of repetitive strain injury to workers who use keyboards for long periods of time. The computer’s processor scans the keyboard hundreds of times per second to see if a key has been pressed. When a key is pressed, a digital code is sent to the Central Processing Unit (CPU). This digital code is translated into ASCII code (American Standard Code of Information Interchange). For example, pressing the ‘A’ key produces the binary code 01100001 representing the lower case letter ‘a’. Holding down the shift key at the same time produces the binary code 01000001 representing the upper case letter ‘A’. Advantages: Most computers have this device attached to it It is a reliable method for data input of text and numbers. A skilled typist can enter data very quickly. Specialist keyboards are available Disadvantages: It is very easy to make mistakes when typing data in It can be very time consuming to enter data using a keyboard, especially if you are not a skilled typist. It is very difficult to enter some data, for example, details of diagrams and pictures. It is very slow to access menus and not flexible when you want to move objects around the screen Difficult for people unable to use keyboards through paralysis or muscular disorder. Mouse A mouse is the most common pointing device that you will come across. It enables you to control the movement and position of the on-screen cursor by moving it around on the desk. Buttons on the mouse let you select options from menus and drag objects around the screen. Pressing a mouse button produces a ‘mouse click’. You might have heard the expressions ‘double click’, ‘click and drag’ and ‘drag and drop’. Most mice use a small ball located underneath them to calculate the direction that you are moving the mouse in. The movement of the ball causes two rollers to rotate inside the mouse; one records the movement in a north-south direction and the other records the east-west movement. The mouse monitors how far the ball turns and in what direction and sends this information to the computer to move the pointer. Advantages: Ideal for use with desktop computers. Usually supplied with a computer so no additional cost. All computer users tend to be familiar with using them. Disadvantages They need a flat space close to the computer. The mouse cannot easily be used with laptop, notebook or palmtop computers. (These need a tracker ball or a touch sensitive pad called a touch pad). Trackball A tracker ball, is like an upside down mouse with the ball on top. Turning the ball with your hand moves the pointer on the screen. It has buttons like a standard mouse, but requires very little space to operate and is often used in conjunction with computer aided design. You will often find a small tracker ball built into laptop computers in place of the conventional mouse. Advantages Ideal for use where flat space close to the computer is limited. Can be useful with laptops as they can be built into the computer keyboard or clipped on. Disadvantages Not supplied as standard so an additional cost and users have to learn how to use them a joy stick is simalar to the mouse but turns at the sides a joy stick is used to play computer games it turns in 8 dirtion and is used for controlling things like cars advantge there is an idmete feel of dirction due to the movement of the stick disavantges its hard to controlthey can break ealisy This document was downloaded from Coursework. Info – The UK’s Coursework Database – http://www. coursework. info/ This document was downloaded from Coursework. Info – The UK’s Coursework Database – http://www. coursework. info/ This document was downloaded from Coursework. Info – The UK’s Coursework Database – http://www. coursework. info/ This document was downloaded from Coursework. Info – The UK’s Coursework Database – http://www. coursework. info/ This document was downloaded from Coursework. Info – The UK’s Coursework Database – http://www. coursework. info/ This document was downloaded from Coursework. Info – The UK’s Coursework Database – http://www. coursework. info.

ERP Implementation Project Essay

Rolls Royce is one of those pioneers global companies which they have facilities in the most of the world countries, many suppliers, partners and huge base of customers all over the world, moreover as the most pioneers global organisations actions to avoid the hypercompetitive in the global market, globalization and many challenges Rolls Royce decided in 1998 to change its organizational strategies to be more flexible and more response to the customers’ demands which that need to flatten its organizational structure hierarchy and turn to be process oriented rather than functional oriented so they divided the company into two business units the first one called customer focused business unit (CFBU) which there all the orders and sales deals comes and where all focused on customers’ needs to achieve best sales and second one called operation business unit (OBU) which there is the production of products to fulfill other units demands, Executive group who managed all the un its and all decisions come from them to be distributed to whole company staff. Rolls Royce has recognized that changes of its organizational strategies, aspiration and plans in growths over all the world will not be supported by the legacy resources planning systems which it owned them and the difficulty of theses systems to be fixed and development and because the important of the information technology and the internet to create process oriented business environment and how much is effective to transfer the organization from rigid structure to be more flexible, so Rolls Royce decided to sign partnership with electronic data service company (EDS) to find for it modern business solution system for the data information management and resources planning to be more flexible and modify of its requirements which is in its turn decided to implement the SAP enterprise resources planning system (ERP) on operation business unit (OBU) and in my point of view the step that sign with outsourcing partner to find solution to specific issue like what Rolls Royce did with EDS and outsourcing the IT solutions issue one of one of the steps have done by Rolls Royce to overcome the complications of the ERP implementation and let it just focusing on the its field of engines manufacturing. Important steps has done by outsourcing the implementation project to specialized company because Rolls Royce has realised the fact that this kind of projects on huge  organisation are risky, any error in implementation will lead to huge money losing, many practical examples prove that, like the fail in implementation ERP system cost DELL 10 $ billions just to scrap it, moreover this kind of systems very expensive to remove it or to retrieve the data from it or even to modify it, the customization for this kind of systems is very expensive, this kind of system need high integration between departments, peoples and users because in truth the ERP system need board organisational transformation process specially in the organisation management model , organisation structure , management style and culture and particularly to staff so the organisation must be ready to implement the ERP system, ready to change which Rose Royce was ready to this transformation and there is integration betw een department instead the success implementation will make the company get all the benefits and advantages of this kind of the systems like process automotive and the quick access of up to date and timely management information which give the organisation competitive advantage which the Rolls Royce one of those organisations want to achieve that’s advantage so it was critical to the Rolls Royce to achieve success ERP project implementation, so they forming project team to implement the ERP system in success fashion, this team consist outsourcing specialists from external company EDS , which EDS itself has specialized on SAP system , SAP consultants and internal managers and staff have good experience with cross-functional business relationships and experience on the old systems, all of them will corporate to achieve the project implementation success. As any complicated projects of implementation, the Rolls Royce ERP project implementation faced some problems can be grouped into three area of culture, business and technical. Culture problems we can conclude it in sentence of the people are afraid of what they do not understand, as unexpectedly the new system faced resistance from the people in spite of the new system do the same functions or better than the legacy one has, so the project team decided to increase the original plan period because they need more time to illustrate them the advantages of the new system and how will do positive effects on the department and the company as whole, moreover they need to make the people integrate and to train them how to use it in effective way they tried to make the accept it as new work environment practices through educational plan to educate the staff in the new system  which the plan consists , presentation , demonstration , information delivery and expert training moreover the team trained around 10000 employees in the organization, the project team strategy realised that important to accept the system and turn them to new environment practices which cons ider significant to running the system in success way and to create proper integration between the departments to achieve the advantages of the new system unless the ERP system will not add value or competitive advantage if the users not integrate between each other’s, for that the project team take all the time required to overcome this problem . The Technical problems had raised in the implementation project is the data and how much this data important and valuable to the organization in hand and the high cost of retrieve, transfer and storing these date in new system server in other hand, also the fairs to lose the valuable data on the old system servers and the difficulty to retrieve the data from the old system which its stored there in sensitive format moreover the possibility of the data duplication all of these problems the team success to solve it with lowest cost to achieve that the project team in some special area of the old system they kept it running until they can phased it out by the new system then they have built interface bridge between the old system and new system, like when they kept the computer aided design (CAD) used by Rolls Royce the same. Rolls Royce ERP implementation project is success practices case study for complicated and costly projects as the ERP implementation project, as we noted from this case study the project implementation require organization willingness to change on its organisational structure, the pepole integration between different departments is vital factor to achieve success fashion of implementation, ERP system modification and customization are costly and expensive that lead us to said that the ERP implementation projects is term of organisation processes, organisation style, organisation fashion, organisation pepole integration, organisation pepole practices modification not system customization, the organisation realization of complications of implementation the system lead it to form expert project teams to achieve success implementation even by outsourcing service unless will be error in implementation which that disaster as we read in the paper real disaster examples of error ERP implanta tion and how its cost the organisation billions, in finally when the organisation decide to implement  the ERP system it must be ready and able to define the main core businesses requires the ERP system then the organisation can deiced which of ERP modules is fit to the organisation need. References Yasuf, Y., Gunasekaran, A. & Abthorpe, M., 2004. Enterprise information systems project implementation: A case study of ERP in Rolls-Royce. International Journal of Production Economics, 87 (3), pp.251-266. ,

Change Management Plans for Secure IT Systems (CSOs role in approving Essay

Change Management Plans for Secure IT Systems (CSOs role in approving changes) - Essay Example This includes the issue of online business transaction where IT and network are key components in ensuring efficient and effective transactions. Teams on network operations are trying to make improvements to the quality of the IT quality for the reason of meeting customer needs. These organizations and industries, therefore, to achieve the improvements have examined the processes in the areas of change management that the network changes are a source of downtime (Peters, 2000). These management changes need to be done due to various reasons. These reasons include; The change management in this sector ensures that there are efficient and prompt standardized ways and procedures in handling of all changes. It also leads to recording of configuration items and the changes to service assets in the management system. There is also support for business goals and wants due to the authorized changes, and business risk is reduced. Then the changes are managed to reduce the exposure of risk, reduce the impact of interruption and enhance successfulness of the management changes (Jacques, 2005). Management change provides required information and provides guidance on different size and kinds of organizations and changes that are either simple or complex changes for each lifecycle stage. It also shows the major and minor changes and the different levels of funding and budget to enhance effective change. The change management ensures that the business changing customers’ requirements are met by maximizing the value, minimizing the incidents, interruption, maximizing, and improving the network. It ensures the IT and businesses want requests are met, and there is a large room for information technology. There is management change in modifying, adding or removal of authorized service to meet the effective demands. This need for change erupts due to various reasons aimed at effectiveness. These

Womens Rights in Africa and Where They Are Now Research Paper

Womens Rights in Africa and Where They Are Now - Research Paper Example This has in turn resulted in an imbalanced society, in which men occupy all the positions of leadership at the expense of women who perform basic home management roles (Oduyoye 12). The research looks forward to exploring exploitations leveled against women. It further investigates how the modern day African societies reverse the effect of such retrogressive beliefs, which have contributed to the rejection of women human rights in the societies. In doing the research analyses a number of sources primary of which are films and videos obtained from YouTube and other digital video disc formats. These videos depict the different forms of women maltreatment and the rights denial mechanisms that the African women face in their daily lives. Research methods In my research project, I have opted for numerous methods of carrying out the assignment. The audio methods become my first priority due to its efficiency and in my research project; the audio comes in video terms. ... This is because, after the practice the young girls are immediately given out for marriage to elderly men (Ogundipe-Leslie 21). The research also uses secondary sources, which include books and newspaper articles, which recount the struggle of the African woman for liberty and equal opportunity in the society. These seek to depict the progresses made by different governments in the continent to level the playing ground for both sexes thus uplift the status of the girl child thus that of the African woman by extrapolation Violation of African women's rights The violation of African women's rights started back in the eighteenth century when women were viewed as second-class citizens. Gender inequality did not start in Africa, but rather started in the advanced continents of Europe and America. However, the women in these continents overcame the oppression and gradually liberated themselves from the bondage. Sadly, Africa is still evolving in terms of gender equality (Breneman 140). The stubbornness of this gender inequality is due to strong cultural beliefs that Africa strictly follows, hence placing women in their old traditional place of the weaker vessels. The challenges that African women undergo are numerous challenges, and to begin with, genital mutilation tops the list. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Female genital mutilation has another name of female genital cutting or circumcision, and the world health organization (WHO) describes it as a process through which the external female reproductive organs or genitalia is either partially or entirely cut off. Approximations of up to 140 million women, or probably more pass through this intolerable procedure every year, globally. Africa alone practices the FGM on roughly 3 million young girls yearly (Toubia & Anika

Corporates Fighting Poverty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Corporates Fighting Poverty - Essay Example Coca-Cola Foundation is the main charitable company of Coca-Cola. The foundation receives requests from needy individuals and tries their best to respond to the requests. The company vows to give back to the society 1% of their operating income annually. According to statistics, the company injected at least $143 million to help communities worldwide. The program to help the needy will work well if there is a good relationship the society and companies that exist to make profits. The program will be for a company that manufactures food products. The solutions of the program will aim to help the individual at the bottom of the pyramid. The main aim of the program will be to provide the poor with realistic interventions that will help uplift their standards of living. The program will be sustainable because the products modification will be able to benefit the poor. The products will have nutrients that the regular products do not have to help poor families. There are certain nutrients that normal products lack but are available in other food products. Since the needy do not have the ability to access all the food products, having a product that is rich in nutrients is important. The product will be of economic importance to the company because of developing a market for the needy individuals. The product will be good for business because it will expand their market among the low-income group of individual. The program will have the ability to exploit the market to create sustainable community transformation.

World regions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

World regions - Essay Example The nature of yin-yang lies in interchange and interplay of two components. The alternation of day and night or coldness and hotness is an example. The Taoist belief system holds that the best way an individual can improve his life is by learning how to create his own yin-yang power. Yin Yang power permeates our world. There is a way to balance it to our advantage. These two different states will alter into each other under definite circumstances. For example, in the process of affliction from an illness, a person will experience a high fever, turmoil, and uneasiness. All of a sudden, the fever will slough off. A period of listlessness will then engulf the patient. This is the example of the yin succeeding the yang. The yin and yang are even used to explain the functions of the human body. When speaking of the yin and yang of the body, the upper part, is the yang and the lower part is the yin. The skin is the yang, and the body viscera are the yin (Bishop, 2010). The vital energy that courses through the body to strengthen man is the yang. The liquid life force that bears that energy through the body and to various organs is the yin. What this seeks to portray is that all forces of nature work together to render the balance that is necessary for survival. All opposites that an individual will experience such as wealth and poverty or illness and health, touch on the yin yang reality. They can be explained in relation to the short-term dominance of one theory over another. Since no one principle dominates eternally, it means that all the conditions are subject to change. It is a way of nature to process through periods of flourishing and decline. The Chinese view opposites as evolving and declining. There is neither right nor wrong but a balance, transformation, interaction, and dependent opposition. Both sides are needed to maintain a balance. Since one principle produces the

Starkey HR Ltd Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Starkey HR Ltd - Essay Example Redundancies should be a matter of last resort. Starkey must initially make efforts to identify the employees with special skills and experience and retain them. Reducing working time, pay cut, temporary leaves, less dependence on casual staff are some of the desirable measures. If redundancies are inevitable, a voluntary redundancy scheme should be employed. The offers of the scheme should be clearly outlined and sent to all applicable employees. In case of forced redundancies, the method of selection should be fair and non-discriminatory that takes the expertise and experience into consideration.Redundancy is enhanced in companies where statutory entitlements are low. The redundancy packages in most EU countries are quite high in comparison to the UK with a few exceptions such as the Netherlands and France. The average redundancy pay in the EU is more than twice the amount paid by employers in the UK. Under EU regulation, workers are supposed to be informed and consulted in any cas e of redundancies. Additionally, companies need to determine a threshold level for the redundancy and are determined by the size of the workforce and number of required redundancies.Forecasting allows a business to create and modify the financial and promotional strategy of a company in addition to allowing it to keep track of the performance of all requisite parameters, which play a crucial role in decision making and implementing the required changes to existing strategy.

Society gender differences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Society gender differences - Essay Example The present research paper concentrates on the works of Richard Rodriguez and Malcolm X in a comparative way in order to find out similarities and dissimilarities they present in their valuable writings. The works reveal the very fact that both the writers have depicted their views on the significance of education and learning in the life of individuals. Both the authors belong to divergent racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds with absolutely different parentage and socioeconomic status. In addition, both the writers, under study, had experienced quite different socialization process, atmosphere and environment during their learning process. Even then, the most dominant of the similarities between the two include their passion and eagerness regarding quench their thirst for knowledge and wisdom by studying more and more and seeking new dimensions of awareness, vigilance and insight from the books offering depth of knowledge and wisdom to them. Both Rodriguez and Malcolm X have identified the existence of racial discrimination in their society, where the population as well as ethnic group, other than the White Anglo Saxon Population (WASP), is looked down upon by the overwhelming white US majority. Richard Rodriguez, in his essay the Achievement of Desire exclaims how his Spanish background had become a grave hurdle on his way to learning and seeking knowledge offered at American schools in English language. Similarly, Malcolm X also views education as the way of broadening one's views and eliminating racial prejudice and biased attitude towards other groups and communities of societies, though he also looks annoyed and irritated because of the hatred of the white people towards the minority races, particularly towards the blacks.Human societies, in all parts of the globe, have been divergent since ever; this diversification is on the foundation of caste, class, clan, community, region, religion, race, gender and socioecon omic status. Though all the above-given bases of differentiation polarize the societies into different groups, yet racial background and socioeconomic status play the most influential role in unraveling the individuals from one another. Hence, all man's belongings, schooling, education, financial activities and life-style determines to which class he has come from. An individual can facilitate himself and his family on the foundation of his resources. If he is well-to-do and earns money in plenty, he can offer his family a comfortable and luxurious life. On the other hand, if he has to work hard to make both ends meet, his family will also sure to suffer and is forced to lead a miserable and sorrowful life. Both Rodriguez and Malcolm X discuss the problem of social discrimination in their works; Jonathan Kozol's "Savage Inequalities" also portrays the same while keeping special attention towards school children belonging to different socioeconomic status.Jonathan Kozol is a renowned American writer, researcher, educationalist and reformer. In his award-winner book "Savage Inequalities", he has described the pathetic condition of innocent school children at the school

What Can Affect the Availability of Food Research Paper - 57

What Can Affect the Availability of Food - Research Paper Example Availability of natural resources like water, land, and energy affects the current food system. Food producers are competing for scarce natural resources to produce food, which can satisfy the growing population. About 90% of the food supply is coming from the land which becoming scarcer as time goes. The land has been affected by factors like soil erosion and mining making it unproductive leading to little availability of food to the people. The increased infection of diseases and malnutrition has affected most people making them migrate to urban areas where they can get access to medical facilities. This people in urban areas will rely on food systems for the supply of food thereby exerting pressure to the current food system. Energy is another resource used for food production; energy is used to production of pesticides, irrigation, fertilizers and machines to replace human labour. Technical constraints are another factor affecting food systems. This is because the farmers cannot get accessed to skills and knowledge which are necessary to increase food production. This makes them incur more expenses when producing food, which will discourage them from participating in food production as the costs incurred, is more than the returns. Transport and market infrastructure are another factor that affects food systems. This is because when the infrastructure is poor, and it is hard to get market for the products, producers will have to incur an additional cost of storing the goods in the warehouse when looking for a market. In addition, poor road network will increase transport costs. This will discourage the production of enough food that satisfies the population, hence, affect the food systems.

Australia Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Australia Politics - Essay Example As a response to a process through which 'politics' itself is being redefined, cynicism has greater than before and the proportion of casual or swinging voters has augmented from around 5 per cent before 1972 to about 30 per cent in the premature 1990s (During, S. 2002, pp. 339-53). In other words, traditional allegiances and processes of political identification have been dissolving since the mid 1970s. The 'Australian Settlement' can be sight as embodying a political settlement, as well as financial and educational settlements. This political settlement took the form of the two-party system that came into being subsequent the fusion among the Free Traders and the Protectionists to generate a solitary liberal party in 1909. The fusion brought into being a simple Labor-non-Labor separation in Australian politics a split that was to characterise the nature of politics for the whole of the era of Modern Australia. Moreover, it was the 'Australian Settlement', which defined what politics was to be about in Modern Australia. As Ian Marsh has put it, the 'two party arrangement crystallised this pattern of politics and restricted the scope of government to the idea of Australia which was tacitly decided in the 1909 settlement'. It is worth recalling that at the time of the creation of the two-party system Australia possessed only limited cultural diversity. Most of the Australian population, except for a small elite, was educated to a primary level, which is not surprising given that the majority of them were employed in manual or semi-skilled occupations. The employment opportunities for women were equally restricted (Robert Murray, pp. 23). The politics created and definite by the two-party system reproduce the realities of Australian life, and the division among labour and capital was at the centre of that realism. It was likely for both parties to follow a national attention, as defined by the 'Australian Settlement', even as they differ over the precise form of that national interest (Fowler, H. and Wainwright, M. 2001, pp 337-339). Aim Our aim has been to show how literacy debates are fundamentally a contest of social visions and ideologies. The documentary history is about how community debates over literacy and teaching have been used to endorse dissimilar versions of suitable behaviour, and dissimilar visions of the ideal literate student and inhabitant. It effort For a succinct Australian account of this compass reading to past work, see Tyler and Johnson (1991). to explain the varied and rival images of the literate and uneducated, and of the causes and penalty of literacy and illiteracy, and offer an account of how and why literacy' came to matter in Australian educational and political Life. We will now talk about some of the insinuation and findings from the research, and propose how it continues to notify our labor on literacy formations and instructive politics. Scope No doubt, Australia's place in global trade turn out to be more shaky in the last quarter of the twentieth century. By the 1980s Australia was considerably less spirited in world terms, not capable to sell abroad goods and services in the quantities and at the prices wanted to sustain customary prosperity. Australia's exports grow year by year but not as fast or as gainfully as those of many additional countries, and its share of earth trade fell between 1953 and

Asset Classes Paper Essay Example for Free

Asset Classes Paper Essay Business Finance Resources: Week One readings Select a mutual fund and a Dow 30 organization. Prepare a 700- to 1,050-word paper in which you determine asset classes for your mutual fund and Dow 30 organization. Explain how such classifications and the current investment environment affect organizational decisions concerning portfolio composition. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines. A healthy diet is extremely important during your time at college. The freshman 15 can make a negative impact on your life if you do not eat properly. Make sure you are careful about your intake. Stay away from fast food, junk food and other terrible choices. These foods are quick and easy, but they are very bad for you. This work comprises FIN 402 Week 2 Asset Classes Paper Business Finance Resources: Week One readings Select a mutual fund and a Dow 30 organization. Prepare a 700- to 1,050-word paper in which you determine asset classes for your mutual fund and Dow 30 organization. Explain how such classifications and the current investment environment affect organizational decisions concerning portfolio composition. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

Burma’s Peaceful Transition to a Democratic Future Essay Example for Free

Burma’s Peaceful Transition to a Democratic Future Essay Burma is an Asian country that attained its independence on 4th January 1948 and is bordered by China on the North and Thailand on the East. it was referred to as the union of Burma in 1948. On January 4th 1974 it changed its name to the union of Burma and then on 23rd September, 1888 it reverted to the union of Burma. In 1989, then it changed the name again to the union of Myanmar and this was through the efforts by the state law and order restoration council (SLORC). It is a country whose population has had a lot of significance in Burma’s politics. The Burmese government is known as Myanmar and assumed an authoritarian feature that is dominated by a military leader. There have been substantial efforts to switch to a more democratic moves but these efforts have be hampered by the military which is against this move for example in 1990, a parliamentary government was elected but the Burma’s military could not let it to convene. Burma has a population of about 50 million people and has 500,000 troops who have been helping the government to create a regime of fear by denying the citizens most of their basic rights. Some democratic leaders have come up and visualized a viable idea of freeing the people from the torture they get from the government. In 1992 with his party the National League for Democracy, managed to scoop 82 % of all country’s parliamentary seats but the military regime which used dictatorship principles declined to transfer power to the leaders that were democratically elected. For more than ten years later, Aung San Suu kyi was put on house arrest and was released only in 2002. Her release was viewed by many as the only hope to the establishment of Burmese democratic government that would be sensitive to the people’s needs unfortunately in 2003 herself and many of her supporters were killed by a rowdy mob that was sponsored by the government. This conflict between the majority and the minority became evident after Burma achieved independence in 1948. It was at this time that Aung San Suu was given the mandate to control all those areas that traditionally were not controlled by only single community. After 1948 when the Burmese constitution was signed, constitution right have not been exercised on the minorities, they also do not have pieces of land and especially those that formerly belonged to their people. Since the war period, the Burman minorities have been sidelined by the majority who are the Burmese Burma was a British colony from the 1920s and this continued up to 1948. Though the Burma’s heartland was ruled directly by the colonial powers, the surrounding regions were allowed to rule themselves and this led the loyalty to split along the ethnic lines. The dominant ethnic group is the Burmese that comprise of 68 percent of the whole population and minority accounts for the remaining 32 percent. Religion in Burma has played a key role in causing further divisions. There are many religious in Burma for example there are Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus. These religious divisions have been aggravating the situations for example in 1991; more than a quarter million Muslims were evicted from their homes. This was exacerbated by the fact that there were many alliances formed. They were forced to cross the border to Bangladesh where they were accepted as refugees by the Bangladesh government but were helped by the international community with the basic needs. Today, the Burmese government is led a prime minister whose regime is greatly accused of displacing thousands of Burmese communities both internally and externally, some community such as Karen, Mon and Kareni were forced to seek refuge in Thailand. Those that are internationally displaced receive a better treatment than those that are internally displaced as the later are mistreated by the military. It is estimated that about 600,000 citizens have been internally displaced and are constantly looking for ways they could avoid slavery. They are used as slaves by this government as many of them are conscripted in the army by force or are left with no other choice except from joining the drug network that is sponsored by the state. There are various movements that have been trying to free the population of Burma from military. Some of these are; the Junta, the Karen National Union and the Moi Tai army though their efforts did not materialize because most of the current military officials are from the community with the majority that oppresses the minorities. So, it is really hard to make any advance but there is one very vibrant group that has mobilized the minorities to participate in a non-violent peaceful demonstration. Led by Buddhist monks, these people protested against the abuse of human rights and matched in groups of more than hundred thousand protestors in the streets. The Head of the State, General Shwe who is also the chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is greatly criticized by the United States and the European governments which have imposed various sanctions that are enforced thorough consumer boycotts. The United States of America and the European governments using their influence led other Western nations to stop cooperating with Burma. Though these governments have been relentless in enforcing bans against Burma, some western companies are still cooperating due to some loopholes in sanction application. Most of these are the oil companies. Such as the American oil company and the French oil company. Also Cherron and the Yadana natural gas pipeline that runs from Burma all the way to Thailand is so much in use. There are still Asian businesses that operate in Burma for example the Daewoo Company that invests in extracting resources. The United States government in collaboration with the European governments also imposed sanctions on Burma’s clothing as well western nations to stop sourcing from Burma and more particularly those shops that were either partially or wholly supported by the government. After those peaceful protests, a good number of people stopped getting their products from Burma and these were led by an individual like Levi Strauss who was very vibrant in keeping up with the fight against the government products for example from 1992,many American cloth and shoes companies stopped acquiring their properties from Burma. In 2003, the united government banned Burma’s imports as in accordance with the Burmese freedom and democracy Act that was amended in the year 2003 however, some people have attacked this United States strategy of forcing this government to step down as has led many people to suffer greatly. Despite these critics, the move was supported by the Burmese democratic movement and has supposed by the Burmese democratic movement and has vowed to keep encouraging the western world to impose harder and stricter sanctions against the military government (Smith M. 1991) Burma insurgency and the politics of ethnicity London and New Jersey. Zed books. The human watches in Burma have highlighted all the crimes against humanity but there is no judiciary to address the problem any such move faces strong opposition from the military government. There is no free communication that is allowed by the Burmese military government in fact no one is allowed to access the internet and the search engines such as Google, G mail, hotmail and yahoo so the Burmese citizens are less informed. What the government has done is that it does not allow these companies to operate in its territory and as such they are blocked. If people have to access materials from the internet, they must first of all be filtered and censored by the military government. They use US filtering soft wares such as the Fortinet to censor emails, web pages and pro-democratic pages. In Burma, child soldiers are forcefully conscripted. They are also forced to punish their fellow military friends by being giving death threats incase they do not as they bare told. Children are conscripted in army by force. These children are promised to be jailed if they do not accept to join the army. Since the military regime usurped power in 1962, after overthrowing sthe democratically elected government, this regime has been one of the worst violators of human rights in the whole universe. The climax reached after the (SLORC) State Law and Order Restoration Council was changed To State Peace And Development Council sometimes back in 1997, November. This party in 1988 seized the states powers established itself and forcefully removed the little pretence that was there that they were upholding the dignity of the citizens and took part in massacring the demonstrates who were demonstrating against the creation of this undemocratic regime. They were marching in the streets of Rangoon and Burmese towns and cities when the military forces descended on them killing thousands. According to the comment that was made by the amnesty international human rights violation and torture were like a Burmese institution and they even listed various forms of abuses that were perpetrated by this corrupt regime. This report was further affirmed by the United Nations and other human rights watchdog. These abuses that they listed were for example torture, murder, litany abuses, forced displacements of citizens, holding or arresting individuals and keeping them in detention houses without trials and various litany abuses. These were the activities that were characteristic of this military regime and citizens have suffered enormously under it. Children were also abused by the military that forcefully conscript them in the army and also the villagers were forced to work for the military. Children are reportedly said to have been raped and defiled by the troops. The military operations that are from time to time conducted in various villages and these led to deterioration of living standards for example this was witnessed in Karen state and Shan state in 2001. This has forced many to be to run away to the neighboring states such as Thailand while those who are unable to move out of the country were internally displaced. The internally displaced and lived in the camps for internally displaced received very harsh treatment by the ruling military regime than those who manage to seek refuge in the neighboring states. The military regime do not in any way follow the internationally agreed freedoms for example the civil and political rights though Burma is a signatory to various international peace accords. Everything that happens in this country must be censored including the exhibitions. There is completely no freedom of expression. Even publications are not spared as they are censored by the government infact it is only sports and romance magazines are not censored. The broadcasting media houses are state owned and the government has the monopoly over them. They only air information that is favorable to them for example you it is common to see junta’s generals making speeches and from these stations and instead they go for less biased information. The SLOPCS has been very determined in curtailing the freedom of speech. Though they try to censor the information given by the public media, there are international ones that give more accurate information and these are what people rely on. These are stations such as the British broadcasting corporation (BBC), the democratic voice of Burma, radio Free Asia and the Voice of America (VOA). Apart from these international radio stations, any other person who goes against this decree risked twenty years imprisonment as per the 1996 decree. These are some of the laws that are enforced by this government without any regard to the international law standards. Burma is a resource-rich country that suffers from government controls and abject rural poverty. The military regime took steps in the early 1990s to liberalize the economy after decades of failure under the Burmese Socialism, but those efforts have since stalled. Burma has been unable to achieve monetary or fiscal stability, resulting in an economy that suffers from serious macroeconomic imbalances including a steep inflation rate and an official exchange rate that overvalues the Burmese kyat by more than 100 times the market rate. Burma is a nation that is rich in various natural resources for example the country has precious such as pearls and rubies. The country is also rich in natural gases. In 1962 its economy was performing well when compared to other economies of the developing nations but the socialist party which assumed power later changed the economic status of Burma for example it replaced the capitalism mode of economy with socialism that advocated for central planning as opposed to central planning. Due to this economic change it became one of the poorest developed nations of world. In addition, most overseas development assistance was cut after the junta suppressed the democracy movement in 1988 and subsequently ignored the results of the 1990 election. A crisis in the private banking sector in early 2003 followed by economic moves against Burma by the United States, the European Union, and Japan including a US ban on imports from Burma and a Japanese freeze on new bilateral economic aid further weakened the Burmese economy. Burma is data poor, and official statistics are often dated and inaccurate. Published estimates of Burmas foreign trade are greatly understated because of the size of the black market and border trade often estimated to be one to two times the official economy. Better relations with foreign countries and relaxed controls at home are needed to promote foreign investment, exports, and tourism. In February 2003, a major banking crisis hit the countrys 20 private banks, shutting them down and disrupting the economy. In July and August 2003, the United States imposed a ban on all Burmese imports and a ban on provision of financial services, hampering Burmas ability to obtain foreign exchange. As of January 2004, the largest private banks remained moribund, leaving the private sector with little formal access to credit outside of government contracts. In Burma the rate of unemployment is very high and the prices of commodities are very high and life standards are very high. According to one businessman said that the situation in Burma was moving from bad to worse and that there was looming danger of social unrest, lectures, professors and pipeline construction workers are poorly paid. Due the constant mass uprising by the democratic movement against this regime, it was rendered bankrupt in 1988 in the onset of the 21st century, it was on the lowest income generating countries in the world but it has greatly reversed this situation because it dropped its economic isolationism. It has also welcomed the foreign investors in its economy so that it would strengthen its military bases. In response to its call, UNOCAL and TOTAL oil companies came to its rescue. In Burma, there are military controlled economic sectors such as Myanmar economic holdings limited and the Myanmar economic corporation that is, UMEH and MEC respectively. These two industries which are controlled by the Burmese military are the ones that dominate the economic sector of Burma. UMEH is geared towards military strengthening while MEC is geared towards shifting the defense cost from the public sector to the private ones but both corporations have a part to play in strengthening the military base of Burma. Though European Union has been imposing economic sanctions to Burma its sanctions are not as stricter as those of the United States. It has invested a lot in Burma and it doesn’t want to lose the much that it has invested. United States has been very keen in reinforcing the bans or sanctions that have been imposed on Burma. The US government particularly has imposed a ban on its investments in this country and has also placed a ban against Burmese exports. Since the bans were proposed, US is the only nation that has implemented them. In the past, the European Union has not been imposing strict sanctions but starting from last year it has increased economic sanctions on precious metals and on imports such as gemstone and timber but they still demand for fresh elections to be held and human rights to be respected. It is only thorough these ways that the country can witness a transition from military rule to a democratic one. It had eased its sanctions basing its reasoning on its above conditions. Japan has been very friendly to Burma. It has never failed to support this military regime though on a small scale. Infact it is one of the major donor in Burma but it is reconsidering its foreign policy on Burma especially after a Japanese journalist was killed. It said that it would cut the aid that Burma gets from it. The other reason for it to withhold its financial aid was in 2003 when San Suu Kyi was kept in detention by the Junta. They believed that was the only best move that would pressurize the military regime to address the democratic principles that have never been allowed to take root in this regime. In 2002,Japan supported Burma’s government with 17 million US dollars on top of that it gave Burma the technical support it needed Japan which was all this time shying away from enforcing sanctions on Burma as the US and UK were doing, it changed its policy after this saga. The British government pressurized the European Union to increase sanctions until san Suu Kyi was realized but it was assured that these sanctions would be eased if Suu Kyi was released. That nation that seems to support Burma or appears or appears or appears to be annually to Burma face violation by the US and UK government and this has occurred to china and North Korea. This is based on misconception that these close friends would be providing economic support to this government that has little regards for its citizens. The United States for example was very bitter because Burmese government suppressed democracy and imposed its will on people and that is why it has imposed sanctions. The heroic stature of Aung San Suu Kyi has greatly helped in making Myanmar to be recognized world wide. China has been blamed for helping this region for its support. The western world cannot sway the Juntas government for this to be effective, then the regional ASEAN countries such as India, Thailand and especially china must first be willing to transform this government. China has been asking Myanmar to quell violence and control protesters but it seems this is falling on deaf ears. China has been helping Burma in international affairs management for example it has been very vibrant in keeping the issue of Burma out of the United Nation’s agenda but the United States and the British governments have been on the other side. Due to many economic sanctions that have been imposed on this regime, it finds it even hard to provide aid to its people who living in poverty. The aid that Burmese gets is below par and is the lowest in the region especially when it compared with that of the local countries for example, an individual’s aid is counted as 2. 5 dollars per head while that of Laos’s stands at 63 US dollars. China has been accused of providing Junta with military aid thus limiting the chances of democracy being realized. It has continued to conduct business relations with. Burma but it is because of some factors that are understandable and some of these are that Burma is rich in useful natural gases that china is interested in again Burma provides China with an overland route to the Indian ocean so Chinese government would not do anything to destroy its relations with Burma. Though there have been calls for better treatment of protestors, they fall on deaf ears. The amnesty international has been pressurizing the United Nations to impose embargos and sanctions on China so that peace in Burma would be realized. This is based on understanding that the Burmese military government relies on china for most of its assistance so, if china was to cut its military aid then, the Burmese government would be unable to control the nation there by creating a platform of peace transition. If the new government would come in place, it would not find it hard to sustain itself even without getting any financial aid from other countries. There are a lot of minerals that aid from other countries. There are a lot of minerals that would help the government to finance its entire government projects. The new government should create confidence among its citizens so that they would participate in the economy thereby making the economy of this nation even stronger. This government should also extend its business relations with other nations as many of them do not have those minerals and definitely they would be so much interested in them. Work cited. Altsean-Burma: Alternative Asean Network on Burma campaigns, advocacy and capacity-building for human rights. 2008. Accessed on Wednesday, March, 2008 at http://www. altsean. org/ Andrew S. Burma’s Armed Forces: Power without Glory. Norwalk: East Bridge. 2002; 45-56 Burma net News. Accessed on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at www. burmanet. org BBC News. Analysis: Burmas economic Crisis. 15th March, 2002, 13:47 GMT Accessed at http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/business/1871326. stm Brookings. Quality, independence and impact. Retrieved on April 30, 2008 at www. brookings. edu Donald M. S. Burma-China Relations: Playing with Fire. Asian Survey, Vol. 37, No. 6, 1997; 533 International Crisis Group. Working To Reduce Crisis World Wide. Retrieved on April 30, 2008 at http://www. crisisgroup. org/home/index. cfm Myanmar. com. New Light of Myanmar. April 30, 2008 Accessed on April 30, 2008. At http://www. myanmar. com Philip S. Robertson: Sanctions Are Working in Burma. 2003. Online commentary at www. irrawaddy. org/com/2003/com31. html Accessed on August 2003. Smith M. Burma insurgency and the politics of ethnicity. London and New Jersey. 1991; 78

The Complex Nature Of Human Resource Planning Commerce Essay

The Complex Nature Of Human Resource Planning Commerce Essay This report is about the complex nature of human resource planning. Human resource planning is the process whereby a business determines the amount of staff support that they will need in order to fulfil business needs and customer demands. It is the base upon which all the other human resource activities rest. It simply involves forecasting what staff is needed and making sure that the steps are taken to meet those needs. Human resource planning can also be described as the on-going process of systematic planning to achieve optimum use of an organisations most valuable asset which would be its human resources. It is the way in which managers ensure that they have the right number and kinds of capable people in the right places at the right times. Through human resource planning, organisations avoid sudden people shortages and surpluses. It is concerned with identifying the organisations demand for human resources and demand for human resource and devising means to ensure that a sufficient supply of labour is available to meet that demand. Human resource planning can be defined as the way by which you determine the manpower requirements and the way of meeting those requirements in order to carry out an integrated plan at the organisation. According to Quinn Mills (1983) human resource planning is a decision making process combining three vital actions: Identifying and acquiring the right number of people with the proper skills Motivating the staff in order to achieve high performance within the organisation Creating interactive links between business objectives and planning activities The most popular way of describing human resource planning is having the Right person at the Right place at the Right time. Aims of human resource planning The main aim of human resource planning is to make sure that the organisation has the right number of staff with the right skills needed in order to meet forecast requirements. According to Reilly there are a couple of different reasons why some businesses choose to take part in some form of human resource planning. Reilly identifies three main reasons as to why businesses engage in human resource planning: Planning for substantive reasons- The reason for this type of planning is to have a practical effect by enhancing the use of resources in the organisation or making them more flexible. It also helps the business to identify potential problems and minimises the chances of making a bad decision. Planning due to the benefits it gives the organisation-The reason for this type of planning is due to business understanding the present human resources in order to confront the future human resources. This type of planning gives the business a better understanding of how many employees they have at present and how many they need to take on or let go to deal with the future. For example-The human resource planning department will analyse how many employees they have at present and they will try and forecast how many employees they will need to take on in the future. If the business is busier around the Christmas period then the human resource planning department will look at taking on more staff in order to deal with increased demands. Planning for organisational reasons- The reason for this type of planning is that it communicates the businesses plans and helps the employees to support them and adhere to them. This type of planning is all about relating the business plans to the human resource planning department and integrating the two more efficiently. For example-If the human resource department has plans to take on 10 new employees in 2013 due to a high workload for existing employees, it lets the existing employees know that the high workload is temporary and encourages the employees to support the business and respect the decisions that are made. The Human Resource Planning Model The human resource planning model is a method that the human resource department in a business can use to ensure that they have enough employees and the right ones to carry out the various functions of the business. This human resource planning model consists of three key parts, including predicting the amount of employees that your company needs, checking if the supply of potential employees meets your demand and finally learning how to balance the supply and demand of employees. The three steps are as follows: Forecasting staffing needs Evaluating Supply Balancing Supply and Demand Forecasting Staffing Needs: There are a couple of different ways to forecast in order to predict how many employees you need to run your business and which roles these employees need to fill. There are four main factors to consider when forecasting staffing needs: The situation of the economy- The way in which the economy is performing is a critical factor when youre looking at human resource planning. You need to be able to distinguish whether or not your company needs to recruit more staff or whether your company is going to downsize. In these economic conditions a lot of companies are looking at their human resource planning and making the crucial decisions. For example: If the economy is in recession and business is quiet, a company is less likely to be planning on taking on new staff. On the other hand, if the economy is booming and business is busy a company will be more likely to be recruiting more staff. On the 1st of November 2012, McDonalds announced that they will be taking on over 700 new employees in the next 2years in Ireland. McDonalds human resource planning department are starting the recruitment process in January 2013. On the 5th of October 2012, Cork Airport announced that they will be cutting over 32 jobs. The human resource department of Cork airport explained that the main reason for the plans to cut jobs was simply due to the decline in the economy. The Internal finance of the business- The internal finance of a business will depend on whether or not youre going to invest in new staff. It all depends on how much money you have as a business. The human resource department of a business is usually given a yearly budget. They then look at the staff levels and plan on whether or not to invest in more staff. They also look at things at critical factors affecting staff levels such as how many employees are retiring in the coming year, is there anybody out on maternity leave etc. Internal finance is a main factor in forecasting staffing needs. For example: If the human resource department plans to take on 15 new employees in 2012, there has to be money in the business for this to be a viable. The demand for your product or service- Obviously the demand for when it comes to forecasting your staffing needs and requirements, the demand for your product or service is crucial. If your product or service is in high demand then you will be looking at taking on more staff. However if the demand for your product or service is in low demand then you as a business may need to look at cutting your employees hours or letting some employees go. The demand for your product or service may be in high demand at certain times of the year and you may need to take on extra staff in order to meet demands. For Example: Smyths Toys always take on extra staff around the Christmas period as this is their busiest time of the year. When the human resource planning department at Smyths Toys forecasts their staffing needs, they look at the demand for service. Therefore when they are in their busiest time of the year, they automatically forecast that they will need additional staff in order to deal with the high demand. The Growth expectations of your business- The growth expectations of your business are another factor to consider when forecasting staff. If your business is growing rapidly then you may need to take on more staff. Forecasting the amount of staff you will need in the future will all depend on how well your business is growing. For example: The human resource planning department of McDonalds will look at their growth expectations for the next 6months, 12months, 18months etc. They will then determine how many employees they will need in order to meet the growth rate of their business. By 2015 they hope to open 12 new stores across Ireland. The human resource planning department have already forecasted that they plan to take on 700 new employees. Therefore the growth expectations of the business are a key component on forecasting the staffing needs. Evaluating Supply: This consists of analysing internally and externally. This step is all about checking the amount of staff you have currently in your organisation and checking the amount of potential staff outside of the business. The human resource planning department evaluate the internal staff in the first step when they are forecasting staffing requirements for the future. In order to evaluate the external staff the human resource planning department will look at the demographics of the staff that is available to them. This can include factors such as education and the unemployment rate of the country. When the human resource planning department are evaluating supply there are a couple of key areas they look at including: The existing number of staff employed(broken down by occupation, skill and potential) Potential losses the business may incur due to staff leaving(employee turnover) Potential vacancies through internal promotion The effect of changing work condition(recession may lead to absenteeism) The amount of supply within the business The amount of supply from outside of the business in the national and local labour markets By the business evaultaing all of these areas it will help them determine whether they have access to the number and types of employees that they need in order to fulfil their staffing forecasts. For example: The human resource planning department at BMW in Germany evaluated the supply of employees internally and they have realised that over 50% of their employees would be over the age of 50 by 2020.The human resource planning department evaluated externally in order to find out how much potential employees would be available to them if they decided to take on new employees. By evaluating externally they realised that there was a shortage of qualified engineers in Germany. When evaluating externally they looked at education as a factor, they found that every year the number of engineering graduates are declining. This proves the importance of evaluating supply externally. The human resource planning department of BMW have put plans in place in order to increase the amount of students doing engineering courses. The human resource planning department have offered 18month internships for qualified engineering graduates. This is a good way on increasing the supply of employees ex ternally. Balancing Supply and Demand: Balancing supply and demand is the third step in the human resource planning process. This step is concerned with how the business is going to balance the demand of employees they need with the supply of employees available. The human resource planning department look at the amount of employees that they need and the look at the amount of employees that are available. By the human resource planning department doing this, it helps them to make sure that they avoid an employee shortage and surplus within the business. If the human resource planning department realise that there is a shortage of employees in the business, they must determine what type of recruiting efforts that they will participate in to attract the employees they need in order to fill the needs within the business. In order for the human resource planning department to balance the supply and demand they have to determine the full-time and part-time needs. The human resource planning department will look at the busines ses supply of full-time workers and the demand for full-time work out in the workforce. They look at the businesses needs for part-time workers and look and see if there are part-time workers available in labour markets. If the human resource planning department realise that the business have a surplus amount of employees they may consider employee layoffs, retirements and situations where some employees may need to be demoted. This step in the human resource planning process is all about determining the amount of employees that they need and how many employees are out their willing to work for them. The crucial part of this step is making sure that they balance. For Example: The human resource planning department of Dunnes Stores main aim in the final step of the human resource planning process is to balance the supply and demand of the employees available to the business. The human resource planning department at Dunnes Stores looks at how many employees they need and how many employees are in the workforce available to do the work with the necessary skills. The human resource planning department of Dunnes Stores must make sure that they dont end up with a shortage of employees or a surplus of employees. They need to get the balance just right in order to complete the human resource planning process correctly. Importance of Human Resource Planning Human resource planning is one of the most important resources in management and needs to be used efficiently. Success, stability and growth of a business depend on its ability in acquiring, utilising and developing the human resources for the benefit of a business. In recent years, Human resource planning has become increasingly important due to the high level of competition that todays businesses face. Without effective human resource planning, a company may face the danger of being unable to meet targets because employees with the necessary skills are unavailable. In my own opinion, I think that human resource planning is extremely important for every type of business. The main reason I think human resource planning is important is because by a business planning their human resources they can analyse their staffing needs for the future and identify any vacancies which may arise, they can save money through limited recruitment and selection and it helps motivate employees. Future staffing needs-The business is able to find out how much staff they will need in the future. It helps the business to identify the number of jobs which will become vacant in the near future. The human resource planning process is conducted for the entire business; therefore staffing requirements for every department can be identified. This allows the human resource department to identify any vacancies. For example: The human resource planning department of Dunnes Stores looks at the entire organisations staffing needs and identifies any vacancies that may arise in the future. Therefore the human resource department can identify if anyone is retiring or going on maternity leave. If there is somebody going on maternity leave in the finance department, the human resource planning department can plan to take on a temporary replacement. On the other hand if there is an employee in the marketing department retiring, then they will look at the marketing department and figure out if they need to take on a permanent replacement. Human resource planning is important as it highlights any vacancies in an organisation and prevents any sudden staffing shortages or surpluses. Cost savings-The recruitment and selection process can be very costly. Many businesses spend a large amount of money on this. Therefore by using the human resource planning process a company will save money as they arent wasting money taking on staff that is not necessary. Recruitment and selection will only be carried out if it is extremely necessary. The human resource planning process helps to identify whether recruitment and selection are necessary or not. For example: By Dunnes Stores planning their human resources effectively and efficiently they will save money. They will know exactly how many staff that they have at present. They will be able to determine if they under staffed or over staffed and whether they need to spend money on the recruitment and selection process. Human resource planning is important to Dunes Stores as saves them money by only highlighting when it is absolutely necessary to recruit new staff. Therefore they arent spending money on taking on new staff if they dont need them. Motivation-Human resource planning makes performance appraisal more meaningful. Employees receive feedback in the performance appraisal and they are informed of their chances of future progression in the company. As a result of this, the employees will be more motivated to work harder and try harder to impress. This shows the importance of human resource planning. For example: By Dunnes Stores engaging in human resource planning they will know exactly what promotions are available. So if the Sales Manager is going on maternity leave, then when the assistant sales manager is having the performance appraisal, she may be told if you improve on certain skill, you may be in line for promotion and may be considered when the sales manager goes on maternity leave. This will motivate the assistant sales manager to improve on certain skills and work harder in order to prove that she would be capable for the sales manager position. Human resource planning shows its importance in the performance appraisal as the business knows exactly when there is promotions available and this is turn motivates employees to work harder and prove that they are worthy of a promotion. According to Farnham human resource planning is extremely important as it encourages employers to establish clear and explicit links between their business plans and the human resource plans in order to integrate them more effectively and efficiently. He feels that by a business engaging in human resource planning it can benefit them as the business will have more control over staffing costs and on the number of staff employed. It ensures that a business is not over-staffed or under-staffed. He also feels that through human resource planning, employers can make more informed decisions about the skills and attitude mix in the business. Farnham states that human resource planning also provides a profile of the current staff in the business in regards to age, sex, gender, disability etc. By having this information readily available to them, a business is in a better position to make informed decisions and make sure that they are an equal opportunity organisation. Advantages of Human Resource Planning Meeting Staffing Requirements One of the advantages of human resource planning is that it improves the utilisation of human resources by helping the human resource planning managers to forecast the staffing needs in terms of both numbers as well as the types of skills that the business requires. By the human resource planning managers identifying the businesses short-term and long-term goals it allows them to predict their human resource requirements. In order for the human resource planning managers predict the staffing requirements successfully, they need to establish what skills, abilities and knowledge is required in order to meet the businesses goals. By human resource planning being carried out in a business, it helps the human resources planning managers to identify any potential replacements that they might need in order to fulfil the staffing requirements. Every year many employees either retire or leave companies that they are employed in. By carrying out human resource planning it helps the human resou rce department find replacements for these employees. These replacements may be either from inside the business or outside of the business. Therefore by carrying out human resource planning in a business it gives the advantage of meeting staffing needs. This is one of the main advantages of carrying out human resource planning in a business. Employee Development One of the main advantages of human resource planning is that it improves employee development. The human resource planning department identify employees within the business that could potentially move into a management position within the company. The human resource planning department can then implement certain actions that will help the potential employees develop their management skills. Human resource planning encourages the business to conduct performance appraisals with their employees. By conducting performance appraisals on their employees, it helps the human resource planning department to see what particular skills an employee is lacking and what type of training opportunities the employee should receive. Therefore human resource planning encourages and improves employee development. Continuous Evaluation By human resource planning managers taking part in the human resource planning process, it helps them to measure and access outcomes that make it possible to monitor the progress of the business and the employees. The human resource planning department make the human resource plan and they will usually include various millstones in order to gauge success. The future may be different than expected so the human resource planning department must be flexible enough for the business to manage the change. By a business taking part in human resource planning, it benefits them as the know exactly what is happening within the company at present, how many employees they have at present, how well they are doing currently and how the employees at performing at present. By the human resource planning department carrying out continuous evaluation they are able to meet new technological changes. Human resource planning helps to be effective in the use of technological progress. In order for the hum an resource planning department to meet the challenge of new technology, they make sure that existing employees are retrained and when they are recruiting new employees, they have the up-to-date technological knowledge. Proactive Human resource planning takes a proactive approach in order to meet the companys needs which are obviously an advantage for the company. By the human resource planning department taking a proactive approach it enables them to anticipate future needs, evaluate the companys current workforce and helps them determine what actions that they should prepare to take for the future. The advantage of having a proactive approach in human resource planning is that the businesses consider all aspects and the potential implications of different actions before acting. Businesses without human resource planning react to the employees needs without allowing themselves enough time to think and consider all actions. Businesses with human resource planning avoid making rushed and rash decisions. Therefore an advantage of human resource planning would be proactive businesses. Environmental Factors Through effective human resource planning, the human resource planning department can help the business to respond to environmental factors such as legislation, changing demographics, globalisation and technology. Through environmental scanning, the human resource planning department can anticipate different changes that will affect the businesses workforce and the businesses plan. An advantage of human resource planning is being able to anticipate the different environmental factors which will affect the business and its employees. The human resource planning department can predict and plan in anticipation for any changes in the environmental factors that may affect their business or their staffing requirements. The human resource planning department can prepare in advance for factors such as an aging population and an older workforce. By the human resource planning department, thinking ahead and taking the environmental factors into account, they help the business to avoid possible skill shortages in the future. By the human resource planning department failing to prepare for the environmental factors it can have a negative impact on the business. Disadvantages of Human Resource Planning Lack of Support During the last 25years, human resource planning has become a strategic partner in most business decisions. Before this it was known as personnel administration, a department responsible for processing payroll, handing out job application forms and enrolling employees in the business. One disadvantage of human resource planning is that without the support of management and the employees; it will not work or be effective. In order for human resource planning to be effective, the managers and the employees must support the human resource plans one hundred per cent. The management dont always see human resource planning as an essential element in the businesses long term and strategic goals. The employees of a business dont always support human resource planning due to the fact that they dont fully understand what their role is in the business. Culture Shift One major disadvantage of human resource planning relates to the current cultural thinking of the employees in a business. Many employees work in the same style they were originally trained in. These types of old-school employees have learned to perform their work efficiently and they take great pride in their ability to perform well in the business. When a business decides to take a new approach by implementing human resource planning into the business, these types of employees feel threatened. The employees current skills may not be able to be transferred to the businesses new way of doing things; therefore some of the employees will need to learn the new system. Larger Initial Investment A business must invest time and money into their human resource planning to become fully functional this is a disadvantage for businesses that dont have excess cash to invest into their human resource department. A business would also have to invest money into training their employees into understanding human resource planning. The employees would need to be thought how to research alternative approaches to planning, how to evaluate which approach fits the business the best and finally to implement that chosen process. The human resource planning manager would need to be able to determine how the new process fits in with their current employees and they would then have to assign new responsibilities to each employee. Once the employees are assigned their new responsibility, they will need additional training in order to help get them use to it. They will each need to learn what their new role in the business is each employee will need. This would be one disadvantage to human resource planning; the initial capital invested. The Strategic Human Resource Planning Process The strategic human resource planning process consists of four steps: Assessing the current human resource capacity Forecasting human resource requirements Gap analysis Developing human resource strategies to support business strategies Assessing the current human resource capacity Based on the businesses strategic plan, the first step in the strategic planning process is to analyse the current human resource capacity of the business. The knowledge, skills and abilities of the current staff in the business need to be identified. A way in which this can be done is by developing a skills inventory for each employee in the business. The skills inventory should go beyond the skills needed for the particular position. The business should list all the skills each employee has demonstrated. The education levels or additional training and development courses that they have participated in should also be included. Forecasting Human Resource Requirements The second step is to forecast human resource needs for the future, based on the strategic goals of the business. Realistic forecasting of human resources involves predicting both demand and supply. In order for the business to forecast the human resource requirements, they need to be able to answer the following questions: How many employees is required in order to achieve the strategic goals of the business? What jobs will need to be filled? What skill sets will people need? When forecasting demands for human resources, the business must also identify the challenges that they will face in meeting their staffing needs based on the external environment. In order for the business to determine external impacts, they should consider the following factors: How does the current economy affect the businesses ability to attract new employees? What changes are occurring in the Irish labour market? Gap Analysis This step is concerned about determining the gap between where the business wants to be in the future and where the business is currently. The gap analysis involves identifying the number of staff and the skills and abilities required in the future in comparison to the current situation the company are in. The business should ask themselves the following questions: What new jobs will the business need? What new skills will the business require? Do the businesses current employees have the right skills? Does the business have enough mangers? Developing Human resource strategies to support business strategies There are five ways in which a business can meet their needs in the future: Restructuring-This involves reducing staff by termination, reorganising work units to be more efficient Training and development-This involves providing staff with training to take on new roles, providing current staff with development opportunities to prepare them for future jobs in the business. Recruitment-This involves recruiting new staff with the skill and abilities that the business will need in the future. Outsourcing-This involves using external individuals or businesses to complete some tasks Collaboration-This involves allowing employees to visit other businesses to gain skills and insight. It involves working together with other businesses to prepare future leaders by sharing in the development of promising employees. Case Study BMWs Human Resource Planning Practices In 2007, Human resource planning managers at the BMW manufacturing plant in Germany came up with the Today for Tomorrow project. Human resource managers realised that with Germanys ageing population, by 2020 roughly half of BMWs 18000 workers in Germany will be over the age of 50. By 2020, more than a fifth of the country will be over 65.Faced with a probable decline in productivity, human resource managers reacted in an unusual and innovative way. For BMW, it is a matter of necessity, like many industries in Western countries; the company faces the challenge of trying to remain globally competitive with an experienced but ageing workforce. The human resource planning manager believed that their older workers have more patience and skills than the younger workers. The human resource planning manager in Germany believes that they are grappling with an ageing workforce. With the country also facing a shortage of qualified engineers, the human resource planning department have decided that its best to keep good workers on the job as long as possible and adapting the manufacturing factories to their needs. The human resource planning departmen

Manuscript :: essays research papers

ManuScript is a simple, music-based programming language developed to write plug-ins for the Sibelius music processor. It is based on Simkin, an embedded scripting language developed by Simon Whiteside (www.larts.co.uk/simkin.html), and has been extended by him and Graham Westlake. (Simkin is a spooky pet name for Simon sometimes found in Victorian novels.) Rationale In adding a plug-in language to Sibelius we were trying to address several different issues: Music notation is complex and infinitely extensible, so some users will sometimes want to add to a music notation program to make it cope with these new extensions. It is useful to allow frequently repeated operations (e.g. opening a MIDI file and saving it as a score) to be automated, using a system of scripts or macros. Certain more complex techniques used in composing or arranging music can be partly automated, but there are too many to include as standard features in Sibelius. There were several conditions that we wanted to meet in deciding what language to use: The language had to be simple, as we want normal users (not just seasoned programmers) to be able to use it. We wanted plug-ins to be usable on any computer, as the use of PC?s, Macs and other platforms is widespread in the music world. We wanted the tools to program in the language to be supplied with Sibelius. We wanted musical concepts (pitch, notes, bars) to be easily expressed in the language. We wanted programs to be able to talk to Sibelius easily (to insert and retrieve information from scores). We wanted simple dialog boxes and other user interface elements to be easily programmed. C/C++, the world?s ?standard? programming language(s), were unsuitable as they are not easy for the non-specialist to use, they would need a separate compiler, and you would have to recompile for each different platform you wanted to support (and thus create multiple versions of each plug-in). The language Java was more promising as it is relatively simple and can run on any platform without recompilation. However, we would still need to supply a compiler for people to use, and we could not express musical concepts in Java as directly as we could with a new language. So we decided to create our own language which is interpreted so it can run on different platforms; is integrated into Sibelius without any need for separate tools, and can be extended with new musical concepts at any time. The ManuScript language that resulted is very simple.

The Koala Essay -- essays research papers fc

The Koala Inroduction The koala is the Australian jewel. It has very furry, ash colored hair, a rubbery black nose, sharp claws, fuzzy ears, and a grizzly personality, or should I say, koalality. If you kill a koala, you'll make a million off their fur! They would sell the fur to coat companies and make coats out of koala fur. Well, sadly enough, too many people are making millions on koalas. That's why they're endangered species. Habitat The koala is distributed along the eastern coastal semi-tropical forests of Australia, ranging from north Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and a small area in the south of Australia. Breeding The male koala and the female koala have two very different mating calls. When humans reach their sexual maturity at around the age of 14 or 15, koalas reach their sexual maturity at the age of two. The female produces one baby every other year. The koala almost never produces twins. In the female's pouch, there are two nipples. The female koala gives birth after a 20-35 day gestation period. When the joey (baby koala) is born, it is no longer than 2 cm and weighs no more than a 1/2 gram. The joey stays in its mother's pouch for 5-7 months. The term "joey ² is used when you are talking about a baby marsupial. The mother gives "pap ² to the joey, a liquid from the caecum (which is similar to the human organ, appendix.) This is thought to give the joey the ability to eat only eucalyptus leaves. When the joey emerges from the pouch, it clings to its mother for another seven months. The joey stays with its mother for another three or four years, until it is fully grown. Diet Koalas eat eucalyptus and don't drink water. I guess that's how they got their name. In the aboriginal language, "koala" means "no drink water." But, the koala does drink water, only when it is ill. Out of the 350 species of eucalyptus, the koala can only eat 20, will only eat 5, and only prefers to eat a certain one. Population and Extinction Since the koala population has dropped since 50% since the turn of the century, the Australian government passed a law banning anything harmful to the koalas. At first, in the 1920's they were killed for their fur. Then, somehow, a high perce... ...e New Columbia Encyclop'dia, 1975 ed., p. 1491 (New York: Columbia University Press) Bergh, John. Austrailian Koala Hospital Assosiation, Inc.: Koala Facts Sheet, http://onthenet.com.au/~jbergh/koala2.htm (Sydney: onthenet.com) Bergh, John. Austrailian Koala Hospital Assosiation, Inc.: Koala Facts Sheet, http://onthenet.com.au/~jbergh/koala4.htm (Sydney: onthenet.com) Bergh, John. Austrailian Koala Hospital Assosiation, Inc.: Koala Facts Sheet, http://onthenet.com.au/~jbergh/koala1.htm (Sydney: onthenet.com) World Book Encyclop'dia, 1996 ed., 11:361 (Chicago: World Book, Inc.) Payne, Oliver. "Koala†¹ Out on a Limb," National Geographic Magazine, April, 1995 (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society Press) Academic American Encyclop'dia, 1994 ed., 12:103. (Danbury: Grolier, Inc.)

The Personification of an Educator Essay -- Education Teaching Teacher

The Personification of an Educator In modern society, a high-quality education is imperative to the well being of those within that society. An essential part of a high-quality education is the function of the teacher in the classroom. How a teacher functions within a classroom determines how students learn, what students learn, and how they apply that which they have learned. Therefore, because I am seeking a profession in the field of education, I think I must consider the nature of students, the nature of knowledge, the value of an education, the techniques that I will be using in my classroom, the curriculum, and my future goals as an educator because by doing so I improve my abilities and performance as an educator. First, as a future educator I must consider the nature of my future students. Contrary to some historical beliefs I do not believe that children are born evil; rather, I believe that children are born good with a curiosity and a desire to learn and interact with the world around them. I think students can learn and will learn if given the opportunity. Furthermore, as a future instructor, I must consider the nature of knowledge. It is my opinion that the nature of knowledge is relatively constructed and dependent upon person, place, and time. The nature of knowledge is proportional because the information we acquire and retain is dependent largely upon the individual instructing, the environment in which we are being taught, whether it be too hot or too cold, and the time in which we are taught whether we are sick, hungry, etc. Contrary to absolutism, extenuating circumstances must be taken into consideration when evaluating the nature of knowledge. Followi... ...sion, because an education is so fundamental in today’s’ society, as a future educator it is my goal to provide my students with an optimal level of education. I desire to be the personification of an educator. In order to be the best that I can be I think I must consider the nature of students, the nature of knowledge, the significance of an education, the various techniques I will use in my classroom, and the curriculum that will be taught. I also believe that I must consider my own educational goals. Upon consideration of these various things, I enhance my knowledge of my students, my career, the world, and myself. After all, by doing so I increase my overall potential academically, socially, and most importantly professionally. Becoming a teacher has been my life long dream; therefore, I desire to become the most excellent teacher that I can achievable be.

Newlywed Communication

Newlywed Communication Ashley Metz COM 200 Interpersonal Communication Instructor Tremika Pinckney December 10, 2012 Newlywed Communication Being married, like being a parent, is one of the most rewarding relationships that you can have in life. However, while being married to your best friend can be pure bliss, learning how to communicate and keep lines of communication open throughout your relationship can be tough. Something about having the same last name takes your once perfect dating relationship to a sea of misunderstandings and disagreements.As a newlywed myself, I can relate on these difficult times that occur during the first few months and even the first few years of marriage. There are certain principles you can follow to have effective communication, listening skills that you can learn, have an understanding of non-verbal communication, and realize how self-concept, and self-disclosure, can all play a vital role in your communication within your marriage.While communicat ion has occurred since the dawn of time, becoming an effective communicator really does take some skill and understanding of how interpersonal communication works. Understanding these concepts and skills, will help tremendously in those not so blissful points of marriage. â€Å"To become a more effective communicator, scholars would most likely agree that five specific aspects of interpersonal communication are crucial areas of focus† (Sole, 2011). These 5 skills are listening skills, people skills, emotional intelligence, appropriate skill selection, and communicating ethically.I am sure looking at this list you can pick out which of these skills you think you possess over another, but the key to interpersonal communication is honing in all of these skills and using them together and at the appropriate times. Now let us break each of these skills down and concentrate on the key concepts of each skill. Listening, this is more than just sound waves bouncing through our ear can al, to be in affective listener â€Å"requires focus and attention† (Sole, 2011). A lot of people hear without actually listening.I know that there have been many times that my husband and I were having a discussion and I could hear what he was saying, meaning I knew he was talking and I could hear the words that were coming out of his mouth, but I was not listening to what he was actually saying. Once I stopped and actually listened to what he had to say, we were able to resolve the conflict we were having. People skills, also plays a role in communication, however people skills is a collaborative use of many different skills like problem solving and appropriate self-disclosure.Emotional intelligence is probably the easiest to understand but the hardest to apply in interpersonal communication, for me at least. To be emotionally intelligent is to understand how and when to express certain emotions in given situations. For me, I am very passionate about most things in my life, and when I have an idea or thought, or even problem, I want to get it out in the open as fast as possible. When someone does not agree with me, is upset with me, or even does agree with me, you can see my emotions in my face, hear them in my voice, and can tell by my overall attitude.While in my working relationships this sometimes has posed a problem, I believe in a marriage it is very important to share your emotions with each other, and keeping in mind of the emotions of one another. In a marriage I believe to be emotionally intelligent means to have the ability to express how you feel about something to your spouse, as well as being able to relate to the emotions of your spouse. Appropriate skill selection means that you can recognize a problem in communication and then affectively solving the problem.Finally, communicating ethically, varies in meaning from person to person, as one person’s set of ethics may not be the same as another person’s, however in general to communicate ethically means to keep your own ethics, morals, values, and beliefs in mind while communicating. Speak with a purpose, and let your ethics guide you in not only what you convey when you speak but how you convey it as well. In a relationship it is easy to point out what the other person is doing wrong and how he or she fails to communicate.It is important to take a look inward and realize how you can grow and realize what you can work on too, in order to increase effective communication in your relationship. This may be a hard pill to swallow, but you are not perfect, and realizing that, accepting it, and admitting to imperfection will strongly help any relationship. I think that everyone could agree that listening is equally important, if not more important, as talking. Realizing when we are hearing conversation rather than listening to a conversation will help make the messenger feel like you the receiver not only understands what they are saying, but cares about wh at is being said. I know as a woman, when I feel like my husband is tuning me out, it hurts and I take it much more personal, than if he were listening to me and then not saying anything. â€Å"Listening involves hearing, but it is much more than just the physiological act of your ears perceiving a sound and transmitting the auditory sensation to your brain.Listening is a complex psychological process that can be defined as the process of physically hearing, interpreting that sound, and understanding the significance of it† (Sole, 2011). There are many aspects of being a good listener which we all start to learn in the early years of education, but as adults we tend to tune out, those that boar us or that we feel is unimportant. The first of the many characteristics of being a good listener is a motivation or willingness to listen. You have to make a conscious decision that you are going to listen to the speaker, with an open mind and an eagerness to hear what he has to say.I know this sounds completely cliche but you need to make a â€Å"safe† environment for your spouse so they not only want to talk to you but they feel that they can talk to you and be heard. This was a big concept that both my husband and I had to learn in the first few months of our marriage, and quite frankly, it is something that we are still working on. My husband is a quiet person, and he does not let a lot of things get under his skin. When something does start to bother him he tends to hold it in, and then all at once, it is like a bomb went off and he explodes.For me, it made it hard to talk to him about anything, because he did not want to talk about it or did not have much of an opinion on the subject. When I would ask if something was bugging him, he would say nothing until that bomb went off. Because of this ticking time bomb that I felt would go off at any moment it made it very hard for me to come to my husband when I had something I wanted to talk about. So whil e he was not making a safe environment for me to come and talk to him, I in turn, was not making a safe environment for him either. He felt like when we did talk, I was not actually listening to him, and only wanted things my way.I was not allowing him to feel like he could come and talk to me, so he did not do so. Once we got this out on the table, it made our communication much more effective. Crossing your arms, rolling your eyes, tapping your foot, these are all ways that we can communicate with other people without words even coming out of our mouths. We send off a vibe through our body language that can let a person know how we are feeling without saying anything, or a person can misunderstand a vibe that you may not be giving off, but because you are unaware of your body language you do not realize it. Research shows that 55% of communication is conveyed by the body language we use, that is use of eye contact, gestures, and facial expressions. 38% is conveyed through voice, i ts quality, use of tone, and inflections. Only 7% is conveyed in the words we use† (Makodia, 2009, p. 6). When the first few issues arose in my marriage, we would try and have a conversation to work these issues out. My husband is not one to convey his feelings very well verbally. To be honest, it is much easier to talk about things with him via email or even text message.When we would talk with each other he was the king of just blankly staring at me with his arms crossed, while I was speaking. This infuriated me. It made it impossible to talk to him and I would end the conversation and nothing would get solved. As you can see, sometimes it is not even what you say, not how you say it, but the way you use your hands, your face, your entire body to convey a message. A simple smile can take a conversation from stagnant and cold, to warm and understanding.When talking out a disagreement, try smiling and talking about it, that alone can turn the entire vibe of the relationship an d you may get further than using cold gestures, like crossed hands or a mean scowl. Going back to what I stated before about creating a â€Å"safe† environment for your spouse is key to having effective communication. When you have a harsh body language, you can make yourself come across unapproachable where as if you keep your body language carefree, it can make it easier for your significant other to bring up a situation.In understanding communication, and how your spouse communicates with you, you must understand yourself and why you are the way you are. For example, growing up I was always getting in trouble for my siblings mistakes. As the oldest child I picked up the heat for almost everything. Now as an adult, I can come off very offensive if someone accuses me of something I felt that I did not do. When I could understand there was a reason for me getting on the defense it helped my husband understand how to approach topics that I might react in a negative way about. Self-concept is comprised of relatively permanent self-assessments, such as personality attributes, knowledge of one’s skills and abilities, one’s occupation and hobbies, and awareness of one’s physical attributes. † (Sinha, 2009, p. 2) Being aware of one’s self not only will help in learning and grasping the concepts of interpersonal communication, it will also help you understand why it is that you communicate the way you do and allow you to let your spouse know why you are the way you are.As I stated before, once the title of your relationship changes from engaged to married, it seems that things may change drastically. Living together creates a whole different slew of problems. Having children creates another chapter of problems. Life happens, and it is only natural that you and your spouse are going to disagree on these subjects, but knowing how to overcome disagreements, and how to convey your point in an effective way, makes all the differenc e. As humans we grow, change, evolve every day.Our interests change, our hobbies vary, and if you are anything like me, you have a new favorite color every season. When a couple first starts dating the best ways they start to understand and get to know each other is by self-disclosure. Self-disclosure is asking and answering questions like â€Å" What is your favorite movie? †, â€Å"Where do you see yourself in 2 years, 5 years, 10 years? †. Questions like this help one another learn, understand, and is a big part of communication in a relationship no matter how new or how old. Quality communication is defined somewhat differently from study to study, but research consistently has shown a link between happy marriages and â€Å"self-disclosure,† or sharing your private feelings, fears, doubts and perceptions with your partner† (Schoenberg, 2011). I have a running list of questions that I keep in the notes section of my phone. Every so often I go through th e list and ask my husband a few questions. This is either face to face, via text or email, or sometimes I ask in a letter that I write to him which I will slip into his lunch. It is not once a week or even once a month.Just when I think about it, or once a year, we talk about our goals that we would like to accomplish for the year and how we can reach these goals. This year or goals are to put at least $5000 into savings, and pay off all of our credit card debt. Keeping in mind that we are ever-changing as humans, setting up a time where we ask our spouse these self-disclosure, types of questions, can greatly impact the quality of communication in your relationship as a whole. Focusing on quality rather than quantity of communication can aid in each other’s understanding of one another and how to effectively communicate.My husband is a Recruit Division Commander, which in not so many words means he is a Navy boot camp drill sergeant. This means that he is working from anywher e from 4am to 10pm, 7 days a week, for at least 13 weeks at a time. I have a full time job working 8am until 5pm and then come home to take care of our 1 year old. By the time 1030 rolls around and he walks through the front door we are both tired and ready for bed, but we make it a point to take 15 minutes, and unload about our days. These 15 minutes gives us enough time to connect with each other and get the important stuff out in the open.Now 15 minutes a day does not seem like a lot of time but it is the quality of our conversation that keeps us strong. This is what I mean about quality over quantity. The elements that create effective communication, listening, non-verbal communication, self-concept, and self-disclosure are all part of becoming an effective communicator in any interpersonal relationship, but especially with your spouse. Understanding these concepts will help you not only know yourself and how to improve your own communication skills but also understand your spou se and how they communicate.It will not always be a cake walk, but when applying the skills I have outlined, it can get better. Communication is key, when life starts getting in the way, just 15 minutes of quality communication every day can go a long way. References: Makodia, V. V. (2009). Role of Body Language in Communication. Jaipur, IND: Paradise Publishers. Sinha, D. S. (2009). Personal Growth and Training and Development. Lucknow, IND: Word-press. Sole, K. (2011). Making connections: Understanding interpersonal communication. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.