Human Resource Development in UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Human Resource Development in UK - Essay Example As manpower is cheap in developing countries, these countries could concentrate on providing training for jobs that do not require such high skills. Similarly, there are developing countries that wish to compete with the advanced countries in producing specialized goods and services. To produce high-technology products would require the necessary arrangements and investments for long term research along with expensive and complex production equipment. However, providing the right environment for the skilled human resources would make them perform better. For a job to be done well, not only is a person required to have inherent talent, but also be provided with the latest skills in that particular industry. Sometime, they can be made to have the skill by hiring them from outside the organisation. But it is difficult to achieve this by training and developing the present employees. Human Resource Development (HRD) is a planned curriculum that is used in order to invest in human capital. Development of human resources is one of the most important contributors to the success of the UK economy. It draws on other human resource processes, for example resourcing and performance evaluation, so that the real and probable talent can be recognized. HRD helps to present a structure for self-development, training courses and career progression. We will recover in the following HRD at the environmental level, HRD and the organization, the learning organization, Development programmes, induction, Empowerment and HRD and Leadership development. HRD at the environmental level In order to respond to the changing demands of the job market, human capital development should be in the form of education and skills training. Some skills are a rarity even when there is high employment. Newswire Today reports that in 2007 a report was issued by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) entitled "UK Skills: Making the Grade". This report was based on a survey of over 300 employers in the UK. According to this report, 55% of the employers who were evaluated were finding it more difficult to employ skilled workers now as compared to the five years ago. In order to find a solution to this problem, in the same year the UK Government announced the major expansion in skills investment for England of over 11 billion for each of the next three years. The total spending on learning and skills is likely to increase to 12.3 billion in a year by 2010/11. This is comparing with the 6.5 billion spent in 2001/02 (Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills, n.d.). There are many differences in education and training levels in the many countries around the world. For example, in Germany, they consider technology and production as high status activities. In their opinion, to succeed in some areas, employees must have a high level of technical training. Thus German businesses give greater importance to technical advantage than those in the UK. In the UK, it is not only technology that is important but other areas as well, even the ones unconnected to the engineering and technical side. A case in point could be the Film Industry in Britain. It is only recently that the Film Industry has been credited, but it is a fact that the UK has tried to make it successful. For this purpose, the Film Industry

Strategic management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Strategic management - Assignment Example In the last decade the company has progressively developed despite the challenges. However, within this period, the company has passed through different vicious contentions in the business, but it has still achieved growth enabling it to attain its current commanding status. There has been much interest in the German market, however, the state of affairs in Germany can be referred to as ‘a black hole’ since the market seems impenetrable by foreign firms. The same could apply to the Scandinavian market owing to non-existence of Indesit in these regions. However, the market in Turkey could be described as undeterminable yet rapidly advancing. This has forced Indesit to have minimal investment in these countries (Doole & Lowe, 2008). Despite establishing its presence in Europe, there are still some regions, such as Germany and Turkey, where the company has not established its presence, including recording poor performance in the Scandinavian countries. The Managing Director of the company acknowledged the fact that the location of the business disfavours the overall idea of innovative administrative practices, alongside adoption of technological solutions. This forces the company to rely on external concepts for the purposes of advancing the c ompany business. The expansion into the global market poses a major test to the firm and its assets. Such practice calls for the need to implement global marketing strategies such as adapting workable business models and theoretical constructs (Doole & Lowe, 2008). Indesit Company requires some theoretical concepts and business models for the purposes of penetrating Germany, Turkey and Scandinavian markets. In such a case, the company should consider cultural theory of buying behavior. In this case consumers make purchases based on their cultural backgrounds. Culture refers to set of values and beliefs defining a particular community. In such regions as Scandinavia, purchases are based on various aspects

Relationship Between Intelligence and Creativity

Relationship Between Intelligence and Creativity For a long time, creativity has been a neglected subject in psychological research. This is mainly because it has always been widely believed that it has mystical influences or a divine nature. Plato said that the poet is only able to create what the Muse dictates and most often than not, even nowadays, writers or inventors often mention the presence of a spiritual nature that switches their perspective to a revelatory one. However, at the beginning of the 20th century, those interested in the human mind found a new interest in the matter. This generated countless theories regarding the nature of creativity, but probably the most puzzling question was whether one has to be intelligent to create something never seen before or to discover a never before explored perspective. This essay will present a few of the most famous opinions on the matter. Most of the research in this area, up until the 1960s, was based on the idea that creativity and intelligence are coincide. Cox and Terman(1926) proposed that highly creative individuals are also exceptionally intelligent and they tried to estimate the IQ of 301 of the most eminent people who lived between 1450 and 1850.The study was severely criticized because of the unreliability of the data collected from letters, records and writings, but also because of the subjectivity involved in approximating IQs. The results were inconclusive, showing that high, but not the highest, intelligence combined with great persistence can achieve greater eminence than those of highest intelligence did. A study, by Getzels and Jackson(1962), was the first to somewhat prove that creativity and intelligence were independent concepts. They selected a high sample of students ranging from 6th grade to the end of high school and they asked them to complete one IQ test and five alleged creative tests. Their results showed an insignificant correlation between the scores. However, Wallach and Kogan(1965) reanalyzed the data and concluded that four of the creativity tests were significantly correlated to IQ for girls and all five of them for boys. They theorized that results continued to show that intelligence and creativity share a conceptual basic because the way tests were administered was very similar to the methods used for IQ testing. It was suggested that the presentation of tests and the frame of reference of the subject are important in determining whether there is a connection between intelligence and creativity. Boersma and O’Bryan (1968) decided to test this with 46 element ary school students. All of them were given the Lorge-Thorndike Nonverbal and Verbal Intelligence tests under strict teacher supervision, in the classroom. Afterwards, they were randomly assigned into two groups: group A and group B. One day after taking the intelligence tests, group A were given Torrance’s Figure Completion(TFC) test of nonverbal creativity and Unusual Uses test, under the same conditions. Group B were administered the same tests except they were informed, one day after taking the intelligence tests, that they were free from school that morning. They were then invited to visit the University of Alberta, where an examiner took them in a gymnasium where several boxes with toys had been placed. The boys were told they could play, but after 60 minutes the examiner asked them if they would like to try â€Å"something someone made up†. He then placed a box containing the TFC tests. The tests had no instructions on them, the examiner saying they should inclu de as many different ideas as they wished. Ten minutes later, the examiner asked if they wanted to go to the pool and instructed them to put the tests back in the box with their names written on them. 25 minutes later, the examiner presented them with a soft toy dog and asked them to find as many uses for it, other than that of a toy. The final results showed that Group B scored significantly higher on the creativity tests and displayed a less significant correlation between intelligence and creative variables. These results support Wallach and Kogan’s suggestions, but, at the same time, it must be noted that the definition of creativity used by the experimenters was quite general, and, since the participants were all children, it could be that the creativity they displayed was simply age specific. Supporters of the cognitive approaches generally assumed that the study of creativity was simply an extension of that of intelligence, mostly because it was thought that both involved the same main mental processes. Norbert JauÃ… ¡ovec (2000) conducted a study that investigated the differences in cognitive processes related to creativity and intelligence with the help of EEG coherence and power measures in the lower and upper alpha band. The participants were 49 students and teachers taking a course in psychology. They were divided into four groups, based on the results in intelligence (WAIS) and creativity (Torrance) tests: gifted- high IQ and high creativity; creative- high creativity and average IQ; intelligent- high IQ and average creativity; average- average IQ and average creativity. Afterwards, they were asked to solve two problems with two levels of complexity, which could be considered closed problems with closed solution situations, and later, they had to solve four creativ ity problems, some similar to those on creativity tests, and others related to their everyday lives. Both tasks were completed while the individual’s EEG was being measured. Results showed that for the first task, highly intelligent individuals displayed less mental activity (which would translate to less effort) and greater cooperation between brain areas than average intelligence individuals. In the completion of the second task, highly creative individuals displayed less mental activity than the average creativity participants. At the same time, creative individuals showed better connections between brain areas than gifted individuals. The results suggested that creativity and intelligence are different concepts and abilities that differ in the neurological activities shown by individuals while solving open and closed problems. Results also imply that creativity has a less pronounced influence on solving closed problems, as well as intelligence on solving open problems. Another prominent hypothesis was developed by Guilford (1967) and is widely known as the threshold theory, which assumes that above-average intelligence is a necessary condition for high-level creativity. This is commonly tested by dividing a sample to a threshold (e.g. 120 IQ) and determining correlations for lower and upper IQ range (Sternberg, 2003). This method has been criticized because there is no apparent reason to set the threshold at a given IQ score. In an attempt to overcome this problem, a study was conducted in 2013 (Jauk et. al) to investigate the relationship between intelligence and different indicators of creative potential (ability to generate something novel and useful) and creative achievement (actual realization of this potential in real-life accomplishments). This was done using segmented regression analysis in a sample of 297 individuals, which facilitates the detection of threshold in data by means of iterative computational algorithms. Participants were requ ired to complete four subtests of the Intelligence Structure Battery (figural-inductive reasoning, verbal short-term memory, arithmetic flexibility, word meaning) for general intelligence, an alternative uses test for creative potential and the Inventory of Creative Achievements. In the end, a threshold was found for creative potential, but not for creative achievement, which suggests that while intelligence and creative potential are highly related up to a point where they have no influence on each other, there is no apparent relationship between intelligence and the actual fulfilment of that potential. It should be noted that the study had limitations such as the size of the sample and the IQ range of the participants. In response to the fact that most contemporary research focuses on the idea that creativity and intelligence are unrelated, Nusbaum and Silvia (2011) conducted a study based on improved approaches to creativity measurement, which proposes that fluid and executive cognition is actually central to creative thought. The participants were 178 women and 48 men, all of them university students. In the first phase of the experiment, the effect of fluid intelligence on creativity was observed by giving the individuals divergent thinking tasks and measuring their executive switching (the number of times people switched idea categories). In the second phase, half the sample were told what strategy they should use in an Unusual Uses test, which was then administered to the entire sample. People with high fluid thinking did better when they knew the strategy, which was consistent with their ability to access and use it in spite of interference, while for the people with lower fluid thinking, the strategy tended to slip. By combining the results of the two phases, the experimenters suggested that creativity is probably more convergent than modern theories assume. In conclusion, views on the relationship between intelligence and creativity are extremely varied and there is evidence to be found for each of them. Probably the greatest problem of this area of research is finding a suitable definition for the abstract concept of creativity, but maybe there is a need for a new and creative perspective on the matter to finally decipher it.

Substantiality of Low Carbohydrate Diets :: Health Nutrition Diet Exercise Essays

Substantiality of Low Carbohydrate Diets Being able to eat as much butter, cheese and meat as you want but not be allowed even a single slice of whole grain bread just doesn’t make sense. But, it is backed up in scientific fact. There are four types of molecules that the body processes for energy – alcohol, sugar, boy fat, and protein, in that order. Alcohol from hard liquor, wine, and beer is processed first and very quickly. To successfully be on a low carbohydrate diet, it is best to avoid alcohol. Sugar is a class of molecules that includes, but is not limited to, table sugar and are derived from carbohydrates. As long as there is very little alcohol and next to no carbohydrates in your system, your body will preferentially process body fat for energy. It is important to note that body fat and the fat in food are two different entities. Body fat is stored energy. Fat from food is not processed for energy – the body uses it for other things. Body fat is made up of a type of molecule called a lipid. When lipids are broken down to make carbohydrates, an energy molecule and a type of molecule called a ketone is released. The name of this ketone is ?-hydroxybutyrate. Other instances of fat being broken down and releasing this ketone are during fasting, starvation, and during certain eating disorders such as anorexia. The presence of this ketone causes the body to think that it is starving even though it is getting plenty of food. Glycogen, the body’s natural fuel, is stored all bound up in water. Glycogen is made up of carbohydrates. When the body does not consume carbohydrates, it dips into its reserve supply as a survival mechanism. But, in accessing reserve glycogen, all the water that it is stored in is also released. And, as the reserves don’t get restocked, the excess water stays gone. Water is reasonably heavy. So, what appears to be fat loss is actually just water weight being lost. There are a limited number of food options on a low carbohydrate diet. The dullness and lack of variety tends to reduce appetite and intake.

Adam Smith`s American Dream: Of desire and debt by Peter C. Whybrow

The American dream is a complex notion that embodies traditions, social and personal values of people. This concept is closely connected with historical and economic development of America, its liberation movement and economic changes. Explaining the American dream it is possible to single out social, personal and economic dimensions that determine this concept. In the book â€Å"American Mania: When More Is Not Enough†, P. C. Whybrow tries to explain outcomes and consequences of the American dream for the entire population and a burden of debt faced by many Americans.Taking into account economic perspectives, American dream means opportunities for everyone to become rich and prosperous in spite of his background and origin. From the very beginning of American colonization period people see the continent as a special place where there is plenty of opportunity for someone to become wealthy. Today, it is possible to define the American dream from different perspectives, but in g eneral: the American dream is the idea that through persistence, hard work and self-determination people can achieve prosperity and high social status.This notion has created workaholic cults based on principles of the American dream. Following Whybrow (2005); â€Å"A polyglot nation of prodigious energy, we are held together by dreams of material progress† (p. 22). Consumerism has a great impact on the notion the American Dream. After the period of the Depression the reforms in the marketplace not only produced double-digit growth but also enabled ordinary citizens to nurture dreams and social networks that challenged official discourse and conventions through millions of daily commercial transactions.People received a chance to earn more and buy expensive goods. Their buying habits were transformed and became necessities. The workaholic cult makes the realization of American Dream simpler because new consumers created great demand for goods. A new version of capitalism bega n evolving in which creativity was not just perennial but constant, in which rapid-fire innovation and continuous improvement were the norm. Cultural changes had a great impact on the workaholic cult and customer wants.This process which took place in 1960s resulted in the development of the creative sector as an integral part of the American dream. Educational establishments were places where human creativity was cultivated and could flourish. Millions of Americans rather quickly acquired a steady job, a car, and a big house, and debts. Most of them had tried to achieve social mobility but failed limited by gender and racial prejudices, lack of education and financial support. Free-market capitalism supported (supports) a financial burden of struggling propositions.On the one hand, economic development led to increased possibilities of education and the opening up of a greater variety of life chances, but these chances were minor in contrast to high class opportunities. Also, rapid population growth of poor classes increased burden on the financial resources and social provisions reducing buying potential of a particular individual from poor regions. The ideas of prosperity enslaved many Americans who tried to test the American dream and achieve higher social status. Also, these ideas are heated by inequalities between the rich minority and the poor majority.Stressing the need to meet basic needs as the primary driving force towards development, sometimes imaginatively termed the basic needs approach, emphasizes that health and education are motors for productivity and that the basic needs of all sectors must be met. Today, the differences between middle class families and poor are inevitable supported by social and economic constraints and self consciousness of people. Following Whybrow â€Å"The scramble for â€Å"the dream† demands a lengthened workday, diminished sleep, continuous learning, unusual energy, and a high tolerance for financial insecu rity.To be â€Å"successful† is to be a multi-tasking dynamo† (Whybrow, 2005 p. 23). An American without a car and big house is an outsider, who is unable to settle his life. For this reason, millions of Americans take loans in order to meet the established criteria of prosperity. The main problem of Americans is that they spend more than they earn. This problem leads to large debts and psychological problems caused by hard working and financial pressure. The author explains that the debts and financial burden is a direct result of heavy advertising and fashion popularizing luxurious life style and prosperity.The author gives the following example of ‘modern’ advertisements: â€Å"t he photographs highlight the vehicle’s interior, a rich brown leather interior. â€Å"Think of it as chocolate, as another sweet spot in your life,† is the drift of the spin-doctor's advice† (Whybrow, 2005 p. 21). There is a false need fabricated by media an d advertisers popularizing luxurious life style and fashion. Most people become enslaved to the workplace prisoners, because they have to meet the highest possible standards established by media and society.The other problem is that people's occu ¬pations or market positions have abso ¬lutely no bearing on their self-understanding or interpretation of their social world and neither has any relation to their individual or collective actions, which are quite unpredictable on the basis of either. Social pressure is the main cause of financial debts and ‘free-will slavery’. â€Å"Many Fortune 500 companies, once considered havens of lifetime employment, have transformed themselves into profit-driven workaholic cults’(Whybrow, 2005 p. 22).If anything explains the goals people pursue it is the social conditioning they receive, high social classes are proud and seek power, the ordinary man is timid and seeks security. Most people do not understand that upward mobil ity is practically impossible for working class children and immigrants, because they cannot enter Universities and pay for their education. Also, â€Å"manic† is caused by racism and feminism organized via institutional frameworks especially within the state as part of the disciplinary power of state agencies like the police, but which is subject to ongoing contestations.Whybrow cites the example of a working mother who is enslaved and has no time for her daughter and family. The author comments that â€Å"It is the promise of special gifts and a magical holiday that finally proves convincing and, finishing the call, the mother sighs to herself and turns to reading† (Whybrow, 2005 p. 21). Most female employees are viewed as mothers and wives which create a glass ceiling for most of them, and force them to work hard for years to prove their professionalism and high level of responsibility.Also, the author underlines the role of technology and innovations in life of Ame ricans and their dreams. The great layer of information and varieties of technology become available now, but the present day situation is marked by such phenomenon as â€Å"technology stress†, which means that all technological advantages society is craving for are nothing more than ephemerally. In sum, the American dream and false social values resulted in the workaholic cult and financial burden for many Americans. Social and economic uncertainty creates new tensions while reinforcing existing ones.The basic principle of this process is that in social process systems, prosperity are interrelated with the human or social aspects. The basic social and economic processes such as competition, conflict, accommodation and assimilation lead to debts and financial pressure. However a consistent pattern is the great gulf that separates the rich from the poor, and the central role of the state in articulating the relationship between them. References 1. Whybrow, P. C. (2005).  "Adam Smith`s American Dream: Of Desire and Debt† American Mania: When More Is Not Enough. W. Norton & Company. pp. 21-48.

1993 Ap Us History Dbq

During the 17th century there were many colonies settled in the New World. One thing most of these colonies had in common is the fact that almost all of them were settled by the English. If one were to focus mostly on the New England and Chesapeake colonies, one would find that although they were settled by similar people, they ended up splitting for very different reasons. The New England colonies were searching for religious freedom from the Church of England, whereas the Chesapeake colonies were striving for economic growth.The New England colonies consisted of the settlements of Massachusetts Bay Colony, Connecticut Colony, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and Province of New Hampshire. Most, if not all, of these colonies were mainly settled by religious motivation. They did not want to be told by what means they could or could not worship, that was the reason they left England in the first place. Now in this new world they were being given the same rules. They w anted to control their cities by the rules of God that they believed.They wanted to elect their own faithful minister to make the laws and divide up their real estate (Doc D). They also wanted to follow John Winthrop’s idea of a model puritan city, the â€Å"City on a Hill† (Doc A). The first name on a list of emigrants coming to the New England was Joseph Hull of Somerset, he was a Minister. His name was the very first name on the list, therefore his name was the most prominent name on the list, and he was a minister (Doc B). This shows that the New England colonist truly respected members of the clergy.The Chesapeake colonies were settled for very different reasons. They were mainly settled for economic development and prosperity. In many of the Chesapeake colonies, such as Connecticut, the prices and wages were set and agreed upon by the court. They did not have any religious figures decided laws or actions to carry them out. Many of the tradesmen, as well as the la borers, in Connecticut were told to â€Å"consider the religious ends of their calling† and to â€Å"[not] live in the practice of that crying sin of oppression, but avoid it† (Doc E).This means that they were told to end their religious practices but to also avoid the life of sin. By doing this, they made room for more work which would in turn help the settlement prosper economically. There were also many plantations in the Chesapeake colonies. These plantations grew tobacco which inclined many workers to uphold the demand. This helped to draw in many English workers, as well as African Slaves, which ended up helping the economic growth of the colony overall. Lastly, both settlements were colonized by two different types of people, with extremely different motives.The Chesapeake colonies, such as Virginia and Maryland, were colonized by single men looking for the potential development of economic growth, and the ability to make a profit. Whereas the New England Coloni es, such as Rhode Island, were colonized by family men looking for a place where their family could be free from religious oppression. Virginia was colonized by John Smith, a single man who saw the opportunity to make some money and did everything in his power to keep the colony alive in order to do so.Maryland was colonized by Lord Baltimore, another single man who granted real estate to his friends which paved the way for economic growth. Although the New England colonies and the Chesapeake colonies were both settled by Englishmen, they split for very different, but equally legitimate reasons. The New England colonies were searching for religious freedom from the Church of England, whereas the Chesapeake colonies were striving for economic growth.