Massage treatment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Massage treatment - Essay Example Another aspect of the sports massage is the increased blood flow by artiolar pressure in the massaged area. Proper stroking and rubbing of the muscle increases the blood flow and temperature. The whole process can be a good alternative of a warm up. There are different kinds of massages and depending on the type of massage used, it can increase or decrease neural excitability which is measured by the Hoffman reflex. The changes in the parasympathetic activity (which is measured by the heart rate, blood pressure and the heart beat variability) and the hormonal activity give more relaxed responses when measured after a massage. This is a result of the physiological activity. A good massage aims to reduce the anxiety and brings improvement in the mood, technically its called relaxation. This would come under the physiological mechanism. All of these benefits help the athlete perform better and decreases the risk of injury. The massages given to athletes during the events are closely mon itored. They are regarded extremely important for the performance of the athlete as they enhance the recovery. Post exercise massages have shown to improve recovery from injury and help reduce the muscle soreness. And the claim that this massage reduces the functionality of the muscle is baseless. Main Body For the first client, there were several massage techniques performed. My first client was a body builder. The regular massage was performed on his left shoulder which had a suspected sprain due to overuse. The massage performed was supposed to increase both micro and macro circulation. The macro circulation was to increase the overall temperature of the muscle and the microcirculation for the tiny organisms that supply the blood to the small tissues. It was critical to perform this ‘warm up’ massage to get the overall muscle toned up and ready for other massage techniques. The sprain in the first client’s shoulder was treated through the massage aimed at redu cing the muscle tension. The massage was performed mainly with the thumb and the first two fingers holding the visible neck and shoulder muscle, gently squeezing in the beginning and gradually increasing the pressure. Repetitive upward and outward motion was performed on the muscle. Later on the massage to relieve the sprain from the shoulder was extended to the back. The massage technique was the famous pressing motion from the back and all the way up to the neck and then pressing outward as if throwing away the muscle tension. The left shoulder was the main focus as oil was continuously applied to it for the proper lubrication to avoid the rigorous friction. The elongated massage was performed throughout the whole massage process. Right after every major new massage technique, the stretching motion was performed. It is very important as it helps in the stretch motion and for the proper blood flow, the healing benefits come along with that. Right after this technique, the massage f ocus was shifted on to be worked into the traps, around the scapula. The motion of the hand was along the direction of the fiber to give it a nice warm feeling, following the whole group of muscle as it goes into the shoulder blade which goes straight into the shoulder itself and into the deltoid. A technique for stretching into the lat was performed where the body builder

The implications for the justice system of the English riots Essay

The implications for the justice system of the English riots - Essay Example This essay discusses that It was believed that children were given harsh punishments and strict sentences as they were either a ten year old or a teenager who was involved in the crisis. It was argued that children of this age are unaware of what is right or wrong. This argument can be considered as no longer applicable and cannot be accepted with logical sense under the criminal justice system. Common innocent people have also been harassed a great deal during the 2011 riots in England. This harassment is not tolerable at any cost and the courts and justice system should have taken some action against such injustice and unnecessary trouble to the English citizens. The England riot of 2011 was an event where ordinary people protested against the growing inequality that was making them poorer and poorer. Although political classes have blamed gangsters for initiating such riots, the participants were found to be mostly local male teenagers and children. The faulty public policies have the major causes for the growing economic frustration of the people that resulted in riots. The criminal justice system has also been criticized for showing discriminations and unequal justice. Riot sentencing also has much stricter for these same offenses than what is usually given. A large number of arrests was also rendered unnecessary and endangered safety of children. However, the evidence is also there that the court, although accused, has acted as per laws with respect to giving punishments and strict sentences.â€Æ'... The riot situation had brought under coverage other English cities like Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham. Such a riot situation was solely a display of people’s anger against the police after the shooting incident (Slack, 2011). Review reports of riots it is said that police should have used plastic bullets and water canon to bring the situation under control. News reports published says that police should have used stuffs like water cannon and plastic bullets to bring the riot situation under control. Moreover the force deployed was insufficient to deal with the riot situation. The rioters were more in number than the force. Numbers of arrests under such circumstances were also considered not enough to control the situation. The riots caused a damage of ?300 million. More than 2500 business houses were hampered during the riots. The rioters also broke approximately 231 houses (Travis, 2011). The main reason of evoking the riot was that he police had shot down a man called Michael Duggan whom they claimed to be a gangster. The riot culminated more into an anti police movement. The lack of sympathy from the police that got revealed in the shootout acted as a driving factor for spreading of riots. Under such circumstances in the course of riots some rioters got opportunities for looting unaffordable luxury goods and they utilized it thoroughly. However racial discrimination was not noticed in the course of riots (Lewis, Newburn, Taylor and Ball, 2011). Role of gangs in England riots of 2011 Majority of the rioters were found to be males. But only a small percent of the arrested people belonged to gangs. Most of the arrested ones were not professional criminals (Smith, 2011). But those involved had not left

To an Unborn Pauper Chile Essay Example for Free

To an Unborn Pauper Chile Essay Hardy considers the probable fate of a child soon to be born into poverty. This is a poem which grew from an incident that he probably witnessed in the Dorchester Magistrates Court but Hardys sincerity and compassion for the plight of human beings makes the incident of concern to us all. The poem begins startlingly with an opening line in which Hardy addresses the child as hid heart because it is as yet unborn in its mothers womb, and advises it not to be born to Breathe not and to cease silently. The rest of the verse gives Hardys reason for this advice. It is better to Sleep the long sleep because fate (The Doomsters) will bring the child troubles and difficulties (Travails and teens) in its life, and Time wraiths turn our songsingings to fear, that is our spontaneous feelings of joy and happiness in life are turned to fear by time. Time as usual in Hardys writings is seen as the enemy of man and the unusual conceptions of Fate as Doomsters and Time as Time-Wraiths (Spirits) suggests a conscious and deliberate process at work. STANZA 2 In the second stanza, Hardy develops the idea of the destructiveness of time urging the child to listen to how people sigh, and to note how all such natural positive values as laughter, hopes, faiths, affections and enthusiasms are destroyed by time. Set against these positive nouns are negative verbs suggesting this withering process: sigh, fail, die, dwindle, waste, numb. The verse concludes by stressing that the child cannot alter this process if it is born. In the third stanza, Hardy vows that if he were able to communicate with the unborn before their life on earth began, and if the child were able to choose whether to live or die, he would impart all his knowledge to the child and ask it if it would take life as it is. STANZA 4 Hardy immediately, and forcefully, rejects this as a futile vow, for he nor anyone can explain to the child what will happen to it when it is born (Lifes pending plan). The stanza contains weaknesses of style: the oddity of theeward and the awkward inversion Explain none can. But the last two lines present starkly the inevitability of birth in spite of the most dreadful events Life can bring. This ability to look unflinchingly at unpalatable reality is one of Hardys major strengths as a poet. Â  In contrast to the ending of the fourth stanza, the fifth one opens very gently. Hardy speaks directly and tenderly to the child, in simple monosyllables, wishing that he could find some secluded place (shut plot) in the world for it, where its life would be calm, unbroken by tear or qualm. But with tender simplicity, and the absence of any bitterness, Hardy recognises that I am weak as thou and bare he is unable to influence fate as the child. STANZA 6 The poem ends with the recognition that the child must come and live (bide) on earth, and the hope that in spite of the evidence it will find health, love and friends and joys seldom yet attained by people.

MNE Selection Techniques for International Assignments

MNE Selection Techniques for International Assignments Chapter1 Introduction The world has become the global village and globalization has become an important tool for the organizations to be successful in this rapidly changing world. So the coordination between different cultures and people with different backgrounds is increasing in a different multinational organization day by day. So it is very important to study that how the organizations deal with the multicultural set ups within an organization. During the past few decades the rapid changes in economic, social and political environment of the world has led organizations towards the globalization. According to Harvey Novicevic the increasing international activities and global competition resulted in increase in globalization. The process of recruitment and selection has always been very important in any organization. According to Dowling (1999) hiring and placing people in positions where they can perform effectively for the benefit of the organization is the goal of most organizations whether they are domestic or international. Heraty et al (1997) suggested that, in these new changing global condition increasingly, many organizations are transforming jobs into new structures which are more likely based on self directed work teams, made up of empowered individuals with the diverse background are replacing traditional specialized workers. So in this new challenging environment competition is increasing day by day and organizations need such personalities who can adjust themselves with the change. Burack and Singh (1995) also suggested that firms need adaptable people who can rapidly adjust themselves to the changing environment. So the people who are ready to change with the environmental changes always give advantage to the organization, and these kinds of people are very fruitful for the organization. According to ones and Viswesvaran (1997) in this rapidly changing world where the change is taking place every minute the organizations have been sending their members to other parts of the world to complete their assignments. According to Aycan and Kanungo expatriate is an employee of a business or government which is sent abroad to accomplish their organizational goals for temporary period which is more than six months and less than five years. International assignments not only give benefit to the individual expatriate but it also give the competitive advantage to the organization in the global environment. For many organizations sending of expatriate to the other countries to gain competitive advantage in global environment is the part of their overall human resource plan. (Caligiuri Lazarova, 2001). So keeping in view the importance of an expatriate the selection process of an expatriate is also very important step for an organization. According to Dowling the failure of expatriate is due to the selection error. This tells that selection plays an important role for a successful expatriate. So with the changing world it is need to have such staff who can adjust itself with the change. In this paper an effort is being made to give the importance of selection techniques for expatriates within a multinational organization. 1.1 Key purpose of study The world is globalizing day by day and now it is also called global village and specifically UK has become one of the biggest multicultural countries and there are a lot of multinational organizations working in UK With the changing world more of MNEs are sending their expatriates in other parts of the world to accomplish their goals and to gain competitive advantage in global world. As the selection is the most important step for any organization to choose its expatriate and it is always important for MNE’s to choose or select the right person for the given task. In fact an expatriate failure is often result of a selection error, and often compounded by in effective expatriate management policies. (Dowling Welch Schuler, 1999). The key purpose of this study is to show the importance of selection techniques for a MNE when selecting an expatriate for an international assignment. 1.2 Aims The aim of this study is to explore the proper selection techniques which can improve the performance of an expatriate and help him to retain. 1.3 Objectives: To outline the factors that influences the selection of expatriates. To examine different selection methods used for expatriate selection. To discuss in detail, issues of cross cultural variation in selection process of expatriates. 1.4 Hypothesis The hypothesis which is developed for this study is stated as below Without doing proper selection of expatriate much will be poor for the company and result in loss of company. 1.5 Theory an overview There has been a lot of work done on selection techniques of expatriates in last couple of decades. Selection is the most important part of the success of any expatriate, and if the selection is not according to the needs of organization then the failure chances of expatriate. Dowling says that redirecting future performance potential when hiring or promoting staff is challenging at the best time but if operating in foreign environment certainly adds other level of uncertainty. So if the process of selection is beholds specific importance within a domestic organisation then it must have some extra importance while choosing an international staff. 1.6 Selection The selection is kind of prediction of the organization’s peoples or decision makers keeping in view the profile of the candidate for the particular job (Hackett, 1991). The selection is a complete process of analyzing and viewing the profile of the employee and then selecting for the required job. Moore (2006) discussed this as the selection is the whole process which includes choosing the right candidate for the position from those persons who have been recruited. This involves testing and evaluating the skills of an individual is required for the particular job. According to desler (2000) the selection is the process in which the recruited individual is whittled down by using screening tools like assessment centers, interviews, and different tests. 1.7 Methods of Selection: There are various selection techniques available, and for the selection procedure all of these depending on the situation and culture of the organization. Some of these selection methods are given below. Interviews Tests Assessment centres (Beardwell and Holden, 2001) So the above mentioned procedures are used by different organizations depending upon the nature of job and the normal practice they use within the organization. 1.8 Approaches for the Multinational There are four approaches for the recruitment and selection in any multinational organization. These four approaches are given as follows. Ethnocentric: It is the type of the recruitment approach in which all the key positions and top management is filled by the nationals of the parent company. According to this approach all the top management decisions and the key strategies of the companies is made by the parent country headquarters. Polycentric: It is the type of recruitment approach in which the host country fills all the key positions in the subsidiary. Each subsidiary is treated as the separate national entity. But all the key financial decisions are taken by the parent country headquarter. Regiocentric: It is the type of recruitment approach in which regional talent is preferred. For example if the person is required on for the development of any product then the person who will be recruited will be from the host country. Geocentric: This is the kind of approach where the persons are recruited without seen any race, religion or region. This approach is international based and is getting in practice in most of the developed countries like UK, USA etc. 1.9 Methods of international selection The different methods of selection for the expatriate selection which most of the multinational organizations use is as follows Psychometric Tests Assessment Centres Coffee Machine System 1.10 Selection of an Expatriarate The selection of expatriate is a bit different from the local selection of a local manager. For the selection of an international manager there are a lot of extra factors which needs to be considered by the selectors. The expatriate selection process results in higher cost to the multinationals including relocation process, allowance and accommodation apart from the training costs. (Hailey 2000, pg; 90). During the expatriate selection process, 02 conflicting forces operate within the expatriate’s mind. One that pulls the employee into moving to the new place, the other tends to stop him from going. (Baruch 2005, pg 129). 1.11 Factors involve in selection of an Expatriate. According to Dowling and Welch the factor involve to determine an appropriate expatriate selection process are as Country-cultural requirement Language MNE requirements Technical Ability Cross Cultural Suitability Family Requirements (Dowling, Welch, Schuler, 1999) So keeping in view all the above mentioned factors an expatriate should be selected by a multinational organization. 1.12 Culture: (Kluckholn Strodtbeck 1952) define culture as, â€Å"a set of basic assumptions-shared solutions to universal problems of external adaptation (and internal integration- which have evolved over time and are handed down form one generation to the next.’’ 1.13 Corporate culture Corporate culture includes the behavioral patterns, concept, values, ceremonies and rituals that take place in the organization. It gives the members of the organization meaning as well as the internal rule of behavior when these values and beliefs customs’ rules and ceremony are accepted shared and circulated throughout the organization. (Trompenaars Turner 1997, pg 157-181) 1.14 Why consider culture? Adjusting in a new culture is always difficult and it causes problems for both expatriate and family members, therefore it is important for an International HR to look for the similarities of the two cultures in order to deal with the challenges in the business world key activity. dowling, welch,schuler, 1998 pg 132 Recent research shows that the expatriates who are unable to cope with the challenges find it difficult to adjust and incur costly implications. (Caligiuri, 1997, pg: 45-67). The factor of culture is very important for an expatriate selection process and HR managers will have to select such expatriate who is adjustable with the different cultured people and work with them for the cultural dimension Hofstede and Trompenaars cultural dimensions are given as follows 1.15 Hofstede’s four dimensions (1967-1973): Gooderham Nordhang (2003). ‘Culture is always a collective phenomenon, because it is at least partially shared with people who live or lived within the same environment, which is where it was learned. It is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.’ Hofstede surveyed 116,000 IBM employees in 40 different nations about their preferences in the work environment. The analysis revealed the results creating 4 dimensions: Power distance: The dimension indicates the extent to which a society expects and accepts a high degree of inequality in institutions and organizations. Uncertainty avoidance: This refers to the degree to which a society prefers predictability, security and stability. Individualism-Collectivism: this dimension relates to the extent to which people prefer to take care of themselves and their immediate families rather than being bound to some wider collectively such as extended family. Masculinity-Femininity: Masculine societies value assertiveness, competitiveness and materialism as opposed to the feminine values of relationships and the quality of life. 1.16 Trompenaars’ cultural dimensions: Trompenaars concluded four cultural dimensions that relate to the question of inter-personal relationships and work-related values Gooderham Nordhang (2003). Universalism vs. Particularism Communitarism vs. Individualism: Specific vs. diffuse Achievement vs. ascription: So these four dimensions of Trompenar also affect the selection process of an expatriate for international assignments. 1.17 Strategic choices in expatriate selection: Organizations normally have some strategic choices while selection of an expatriate. These strategic choices are mentioned below. Internal recruitment versus external recruitment Individuals versus teams Technical qualification versus other selection criteria Extrinsic rewards versus intrinsic rewards. Chapter 2 Literature Review: In this chapter researcher tried to discuss all the related studies which are done in past and are available in literature. A lot of work has been done in the literature on the topic of selection. Before proceeding to the actual topic it is necessary to look at the different methods of selection which an organization uses and see that what are the different techniques and criteria which are used for the selection of staff. 2.1 Selection: Moore (2006) discussed this as the selection is the whole process which includes choosing the right candidate for the position from those persons who have been recruited. This involves testing and evaluating the skills of an individual is required for the particular job. According to Dessler (2000) the selection is the process in which the recruited individual is whittled down by using screening tools like assessment centers, interviews, and different tests. 2.2 Expatriate selection: According to (Dowling, Welch, Schuler, 1999, pg: 154) Multinationals take great care in their selection process, however predicting future performance potential of the concerned staff is challenging at the best of times especially operating in foreign environments adds another level of uncertainty. The expatriate selection process results in higher cost to the multinationals including relocation process, allowance and accommodation apart from the training costs. (Hailey 2000, pg; 90). During the expatriate selection process, 02 conflicting forces operate within the expatriate’s mind. One that pulls the employee into moving to the new place, the other tends to stop him from going (Baruch 2005, pg 129). 2.3 Importance of an Expatriates and International Assignments: The world is globalizing very rapidly and change has become necessary for the organization to survive and to gain competitive advantage internationally. According to Harris and Brewster, 1999. The rapidly globalizing world has increased the need for the international assignments and many of the organizations started considering international management experience for the top management. So the international assignments are becoming an important part for the success of an organization to gain competitive advantage. As discussed by Chen, Tzeng Tang, 2005 that organizations internationalize their operation to gain success and to increase its market value internationally and for this purpose an organization needs effective expatriate who can perform its task properly. In this new era the importance of expatriate has increased because expatriates are the ones who can give an organization proper international exposure and make the organization successful. 2.4 Selection Process: One of the most studied areas for the expatriate selection is the selection process of the expatriate. The selection of expatriate has always been difficult procedure for the multinational organizations. Swaak quotes one HR executive who said. â€Å"My job is to find people in a hurry.† So this system is highly crisis-oriented and unsophisticated. Swaak , 1995. Further confirming the problems for the nature of the selection process Still and Smith (1997) report the results of Australian research, which shows that there were a number of different ways through which expatriates were selected. They studied that the most impressive and important form of selection or evaluation of the expatriate was recommendation of the person by the line manager including chief executive officer or specialist persons. Mostly expatriates in the multinational organizations in a knee-jerk reaction to the need to fill a new or unexpected vacancies overseas. Actually there are well informed intercultural trainers or a good HR professional who selects the expatriates but basically it is HR department within multinational organization who selects the expatriate finally. Managements choose the most technical and competent candidates which makes the expatriates successful internationally. (Shilling, 1993 pg 58). 2.5 Types of selection Process: Psychometric Tests Assessment Centers Coffee machine system 2.5.1 Psychometric Tests: According to Passmore, 2008 Psychometrics are the widely used testing method for the selection of the employee and personal development. The psychological test is always important for the selection of the employee especially for the selection of an international manager. According to the validity of psychological tests is disputed. According to Sparow and Brewster (2007) the psychologists the variation between the different natured job test is very small (Schmidt and Hunter , 1998). According to a survey done by The Graduate Recruitment in 2007 two third or about 67 percent of 219 respondents surveyed said that the results of psychometric test had some influence on recruiting and selection decisions, and 24 percent said that it has strong influence, and only 2 percent said that these test does not have any influence. So the above figure shows the importance of psychometric tests. According to Sparow and Brewster (2007) psychological assessment increasingly involves the application of tests in different cultural contexts, either in a single country or different countries. Now a day the demand of cross cultural assessment test is increasing due to the increasing factor of globalization to gain competitive advantage in international market. According to Mendenhall and Oddou, 1985 one of the important option for evaluating the selection process is the use of psychological tests and evaluation dvices. There are number of instruments available to measure the stress level of an individual. Figure: 2.1 (Source: article by Jonathan Passmore, Bread and butter â€Å"How to use psychometrics for coaching†) In figure 2.1 the real importance of psychometric test is shown. Psychometric tests are reliable that the selected person will be the one on whom one can rely. And obviously these kinds of tests are valid for any kind of job. The most important point in this test is that it does not include any biasness and the selectors cannot show the biasness while selecting on the basis of psychometric tests. These tests are also standard for different jobs. So all the above mentioned qualities and factors involve in the psychometric tests. In other words one can say that almost all the abilities present in an individual’s mind can be noticed, and the end result will always ends up in the right selection of expatriate. 2.5.2 Assessment Centre: As the assessment centers are considered to be one of the best selection techniques so according to Sparow and Brewster assessment centers will be the best idea as a selection technique to assess the competency of international managers. This is rarely the case, however. According to sparrow (1999) Even where assessment centers are used to select the managers in international settings, the key cross cultural assessment centers seems to be to design the assessment process so that it is very adaptable to local environment in which it will be operated. So there is need of cross culture assessment centers in which international managers can be assessed accordingly with the changing environment. Krause and Gebert (2003) have done study on international literature on the conception, operation and evaluation of assessment centers. He examined 281 German firms whose language was German and he compares them with the previously studied firms of United States of America. Study showed that both the American and German firms use the assessment centers but the purpose of some of them was different from the basics. For example the competencies assessed for job analysis might be identified through the use of interviews with job incumbents in 79% of US firms and only 39% of German firms. Most of the German firms rely on interviews for the selection of international managers or expatriates. so the assessment centers are considered to be an important process for expatriate selection. 2.5.3 Coffee Machine System This system was the idea of Harris and Brewster (1999) the key findings of the study show the reality of the selection process for expatriate selection in the organizations. In many organizations the selection process falls under what we call ‘coffee machine system’ and this system is the most common form of expatriate selection. What happens is that the senior line manager is standing by the coffee machine when he/she is joined by the colleague: ‘How’s it going?’ ‘Oh, you know, overworked and underpaid.’ Actually Jimmy in Mumbai has just fallen ill and is being flown home. I don’t know who I can choose to work over there at very short notice of time. It is driving me crazy. ‘Have you met Simon on the fifth floor?’ he is working in the same line of work. He is very good and bright and looks like going a long way. He was telling me that he and his wife had great holiday in Goa a couple of years ago. He seems to like India. Could be worthy to speak to him. Hey, thanks I will check and speak to him. ‘No problem. They don’t seem to be able to improve this coffee though, do they?’ What happen in the organization next is that the manger will take some decision and will have informal discussion with his seniors about Simon and then that man will be called and interviewed and selected for the required position. Accordingly HR department and financial department will be involved in the process and the formal and systematic process will be started. This method is rarely used in the organizations in particular cases when there is an urgent need to fill the position of expatriate. 2.6 Niche Assessments According to Bolt (2008 ) Many assessment venders specialize in certain niches and offer off-the-shelf products to meet clients’ testing needs. However, vendors can find such persons or individuals for the company who can fit in the organizations new environment and can coop with the new organization’s culture. Testing is the most important part of the application process of the candidate because testing gives the good idea of the individual’s abilities and competencies. 2.7 Factors involved in selection Process: There are number of factors which affect the performance of expatriate. Dowling, Welch, Schuler, (1999) recognised some of the important and most affective factors and these are the factors which involved to determine an appropriate expatriate selection process. All the factors are shown in a model below. Cross-cultural Suitability MMNE requirements SELECTION DECISION FFamily requirements LLanguage TTechnical Ability CCountry-cultural requirement Figure: 2.2 Source: (Factors in expatriate selection, pg 77 Dowling, Welch, Schuler, 1999). Figure 2.2 shows the factors which are required for an expatriate each of the above mentioned factors is discussed in detail below. 2.7.1 Technical Ability: According to Hays, 1971 All expatriates are assigned abroad to complete some task weather its building a dam, running some business, or teaching it all depends on the personal technical ability to perform that task. Obviously it is important to consider the individuals’ personal ability to perform the required task assigned to the expatriate. So in selection it is another important area which needs to look at. Different research findings show that the multinational organization give a lot of importance to the technical abilities of the individuals going abroad for international assignments at the time of their selection. According to Harvey and Novicevic,(2001) that technical and functional expertise has been the primary criterion for selecting expatriate managers for assignments. Hixon found that the selection was based on technical ability and willingness to reside abroad. If the individual is selected without keeping in view its technical ability. It can create the big problems for the multinational organizations to complete its related task or assignment. Reinforcing the emphasis on technical skills is the relative ease with which the multinational may assess the potential candidate’s potential, since technical and managerial competence can be determined on the basis of past performance of the individual who is going to be selected as expatriate. In fact domestic selection cannot be equal to the international selection but person can be selected on the basis of past domestic records which he has performed domestically as the basic criteria is always the same in all the multinational organizations so on the basis of past abilities there should not be any problem for the organizations to select the expatriates. This approach is also found by Foster and Johnsen,(1996) who report the results of the research into the expatriate selection practices for the newly internationalized UK organizations which shows that organizations keep in view the technical skills, and previous domestic records while selecting expatriate for international assignments. 2.7.2 Cross Cultural Suitability: The environment and the culture where an expatriate is going is an important factor for an expatriate. So the selectors of the expatriates should always consider the factor of culture for the expatriate. Although these factors does not guarantee for an expatriate for his successes but if these factors are not considered it can lead it towards the failure of expatriate. If the culture is considered then it is always important to study the Hofsted’s dimensions for cross culture and Trompenaar’s dimensions so these researches are explained in detail as follows. 2.7.3 Culture: Culture is always important for any expatriate selection, so it is very necessary for HR managers and selectors to keep the factor of culture in view while selecting expatriate for international assignments. There have been a lot of studies on culture and there are a lot of different definitions of culture some of them are given below. (Kluckholn Strodtbeck 1952) define culture as, â€Å"a set of basic assumptions-shared solutions to universal problems of external adaptation (and internal integration- which have evolved over time and are handed down from one generation to the next.’’ The life style of people living in the society is called culture it includes the social, economical, political, religious, life style of the individuals in the country. According to Drennan, 1992 â€Å"whatever is going around is called culture.† Culture is the way of life of a group of people. There are obvious differences between the different cultures such as language, dress, religion, beliefs, and behaviours of the people, and there are also implicit differences between the two cultures such as in values, assumptions about how things should be. so these different degrees of explicitness are often called the culture.(ScullionLinehan,2005). So the culture is very important factor for the selection of expatriate because the individuals move from one culture to another culture for the completion of their assignment. 2.7.4 Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Greet Hofstede’s culture’s consequences (1980, 2001) explores the differences in thinking and social action at the country level between members of 50 nations and three regions. Hofstede originally used IBM employees’ answers to company attitude survey conducted twice, around 1968 and 1972. The survey generated more than 116,000 questionnaires with the number of respondents used in the analysis being approximately 30,000 in 1969 and 41000 in 1973. Hofstede identified and validated four cultural dimensions from respondents patterned answers. For each dimension, he presented possible origins as well as predictors and consequences for management behavior. Hofsted’s four dimensions are as follows Power Distance Uncertainty Avoidance Individualism versus Collectivism Masculinity versus Femininity Another dimension which is fifth dimension presented by Michael Bond is Long term versus Short term Orientation was subsequently developed from a research to accommodate non-western orientations and has been adopted from the Chinese Culture Connection study. Power distance: The dimension indicates the extent to which a society expects and accepts a high degree of inequality in institutions and organizations. It refers to the relationship between supervisors and subordinates. It reflects the extent to which the less powerful members of organisations expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. In organisations an illustration of a high power distance score is generally represented as a highly vertical hierarchical pyramid. Subordinates are often told or ordered about a particular task but they are not normally entitled to discuss the decision made by the top management so basically the meaning of power distance is that higher the person in hierarchy the more difficult will be this person to approach. So there are some barriers for that person to see their top management. The barriers can be of different ways like the person barriers or the employee is not allowed to see the top manager or they are not allowed to attend the high managerial level meetings in which decisions are made. So basically power distance shows the distance between a supervisor and his employee. Uncertainty avoidance: This refers to the degree to which a society prefers predictability, security and stability. According to Hofsted the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknown situations. He argued that high uncertainty avoidance is expressed for example by a company’s need for regulations which tends to minimize in the behaviour of its employees. Company rules are such thing which cannot be broken by the employees even if he think that breaking the rule is in company’s best interest in such sort of environment the work stress is more and uncertainty avoidance is high. On the other hands if the employees are less affected by uncertainty is called low uncertainty avoidance. Individualism-Collectivism: this dimension relates to the extent to which people prefer to take care of themselves and their immediate families rather than being bound to some wider collectively such as extended family. Hofsted ask the IBM individuals that how important is to keep in view his work goals rather than the organisation. If there is preferred work goals stress dependence on organisation. For example good physical working condition, good ventilation enough space individualism in the work place can be seen. Collectivism can be seen in preference of collective organis MNE Selection Techniques for International Assignments MNE Selection Techniques for International Assignments Chapter1 Introduction The world has become the global village and globalization has become an important tool for the organizations to be successful in this rapidly changing world. So the coordination between different cultures and people with different backgrounds is increasing in a different multinational organization day by day. So it is very important to study that how the organizations deal with the multicultural set ups within an organization. During the past few decades the rapid changes in economic, social and political environment of the world has led organizations towards the globalization. According to Harvey Novicevic the increasing international activities and global competition resulted in increase in globalization. The process of recruitment and selection has always been very important in any organization. According to Dowling (1999) hiring and placing people in positions where they can perform effectively for the benefit of the organization is the goal of most organizations whether they are domestic or international. Heraty et al (1997) suggested that, in these new changing global condition increasingly, many organizations are transforming jobs into new structures which are more likely based on self directed work teams, made up of empowered individuals with the diverse background are replacing traditional specialized workers. So in this new challenging environment competition is increasing day by day and organizations need such personalities who can adjust themselves with the change. Burack and Singh (1995) also suggested that firms need adaptable people who can rapidly adjust themselves to the changing environment. So the people who are ready to change with the environmental changes always give advantage to the organization, and these kinds of people are very fruitful for the organization. According to ones and Viswesvaran (1997) in this rapidly changing world where the change is taking place every minute the organizations have been sending their members to other parts of the world to complete their assignments. According to Aycan and Kanungo expatriate is an employee of a business or government which is sent abroad to accomplish their organizational goals for temporary period which is more than six months and less than five years. International assignments not only give benefit to the individual expatriate but it also give the competitive advantage to the organization in the global environment. For many organizations sending of expatriate to the other countries to gain competitive advantage in global environment is the part of their overall human resource plan. (Caligiuri Lazarova, 2001). So keeping in view the importance of an expatriate the selection process of an expatriate is also very important step for an organization. According to Dowling the failure of expatriate is due to the selection error. This tells that selection plays an important role for a successful expatriate. So with the changing world it is need to have such staff who can adjust itself with the change. In this paper an effort is being made to give the importance of selection techniques for expatriates within a multinational organization. 1.1 Key purpose of study The world is globalizing day by day and now it is also called global village and specifically UK has become one of the biggest multicultural countries and there are a lot of multinational organizations working in UK With the changing world more of MNEs are sending their expatriates in other parts of the world to accomplish their goals and to gain competitive advantage in global world. As the selection is the most important step for any organization to choose its expatriate and it is always important for MNE’s to choose or select the right person for the given task. In fact an expatriate failure is often result of a selection error, and often compounded by in effective expatriate management policies. (Dowling Welch Schuler, 1999). The key purpose of this study is to show the importance of selection techniques for a MNE when selecting an expatriate for an international assignment. 1.2 Aims The aim of this study is to explore the proper selection techniques which can improve the performance of an expatriate and help him to retain. 1.3 Objectives: To outline the factors that influences the selection of expatriates. To examine different selection methods used for expatriate selection. To discuss in detail, issues of cross cultural variation in selection process of expatriates. 1.4 Hypothesis The hypothesis which is developed for this study is stated as below Without doing proper selection of expatriate much will be poor for the company and result in loss of company. 1.5 Theory an overview There has been a lot of work done on selection techniques of expatriates in last couple of decades. Selection is the most important part of the success of any expatriate, and if the selection is not according to the needs of organization then the failure chances of expatriate. Dowling says that redirecting future performance potential when hiring or promoting staff is challenging at the best time but if operating in foreign environment certainly adds other level of uncertainty. So if the process of selection is beholds specific importance within a domestic organisation then it must have some extra importance while choosing an international staff. 1.6 Selection The selection is kind of prediction of the organization’s peoples or decision makers keeping in view the profile of the candidate for the particular job (Hackett, 1991). The selection is a complete process of analyzing and viewing the profile of the employee and then selecting for the required job. Moore (2006) discussed this as the selection is the whole process which includes choosing the right candidate for the position from those persons who have been recruited. This involves testing and evaluating the skills of an individual is required for the particular job. According to desler (2000) the selection is the process in which the recruited individual is whittled down by using screening tools like assessment centers, interviews, and different tests. 1.7 Methods of Selection: There are various selection techniques available, and for the selection procedure all of these depending on the situation and culture of the organization. Some of these selection methods are given below. Interviews Tests Assessment centres (Beardwell and Holden, 2001) So the above mentioned procedures are used by different organizations depending upon the nature of job and the normal practice they use within the organization. 1.8 Approaches for the Multinational There are four approaches for the recruitment and selection in any multinational organization. These four approaches are given as follows. Ethnocentric: It is the type of the recruitment approach in which all the key positions and top management is filled by the nationals of the parent company. According to this approach all the top management decisions and the key strategies of the companies is made by the parent country headquarters. Polycentric: It is the type of recruitment approach in which the host country fills all the key positions in the subsidiary. Each subsidiary is treated as the separate national entity. But all the key financial decisions are taken by the parent country headquarter. Regiocentric: It is the type of recruitment approach in which regional talent is preferred. For example if the person is required on for the development of any product then the person who will be recruited will be from the host country. Geocentric: This is the kind of approach where the persons are recruited without seen any race, religion or region. This approach is international based and is getting in practice in most of the developed countries like UK, USA etc. 1.9 Methods of international selection The different methods of selection for the expatriate selection which most of the multinational organizations use is as follows Psychometric Tests Assessment Centres Coffee Machine System 1.10 Selection of an Expatriarate The selection of expatriate is a bit different from the local selection of a local manager. For the selection of an international manager there are a lot of extra factors which needs to be considered by the selectors. The expatriate selection process results in higher cost to the multinationals including relocation process, allowance and accommodation apart from the training costs. (Hailey 2000, pg; 90). During the expatriate selection process, 02 conflicting forces operate within the expatriate’s mind. One that pulls the employee into moving to the new place, the other tends to stop him from going. (Baruch 2005, pg 129). 1.11 Factors involve in selection of an Expatriate. According to Dowling and Welch the factor involve to determine an appropriate expatriate selection process are as Country-cultural requirement Language MNE requirements Technical Ability Cross Cultural Suitability Family Requirements (Dowling, Welch, Schuler, 1999) So keeping in view all the above mentioned factors an expatriate should be selected by a multinational organization. 1.12 Culture: (Kluckholn Strodtbeck 1952) define culture as, â€Å"a set of basic assumptions-shared solutions to universal problems of external adaptation (and internal integration- which have evolved over time and are handed down form one generation to the next.’’ 1.13 Corporate culture Corporate culture includes the behavioral patterns, concept, values, ceremonies and rituals that take place in the organization. It gives the members of the organization meaning as well as the internal rule of behavior when these values and beliefs customs’ rules and ceremony are accepted shared and circulated throughout the organization. (Trompenaars Turner 1997, pg 157-181) 1.14 Why consider culture? Adjusting in a new culture is always difficult and it causes problems for both expatriate and family members, therefore it is important for an International HR to look for the similarities of the two cultures in order to deal with the challenges in the business world key activity. dowling, welch,schuler, 1998 pg 132 Recent research shows that the expatriates who are unable to cope with the challenges find it difficult to adjust and incur costly implications. (Caligiuri, 1997, pg: 45-67). The factor of culture is very important for an expatriate selection process and HR managers will have to select such expatriate who is adjustable with the different cultured people and work with them for the cultural dimension Hofstede and Trompenaars cultural dimensions are given as follows 1.15 Hofstede’s four dimensions (1967-1973): Gooderham Nordhang (2003). ‘Culture is always a collective phenomenon, because it is at least partially shared with people who live or lived within the same environment, which is where it was learned. It is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.’ Hofstede surveyed 116,000 IBM employees in 40 different nations about their preferences in the work environment. The analysis revealed the results creating 4 dimensions: Power distance: The dimension indicates the extent to which a society expects and accepts a high degree of inequality in institutions and organizations. Uncertainty avoidance: This refers to the degree to which a society prefers predictability, security and stability. Individualism-Collectivism: this dimension relates to the extent to which people prefer to take care of themselves and their immediate families rather than being bound to some wider collectively such as extended family. Masculinity-Femininity: Masculine societies value assertiveness, competitiveness and materialism as opposed to the feminine values of relationships and the quality of life. 1.16 Trompenaars’ cultural dimensions: Trompenaars concluded four cultural dimensions that relate to the question of inter-personal relationships and work-related values Gooderham Nordhang (2003). Universalism vs. Particularism Communitarism vs. Individualism: Specific vs. diffuse Achievement vs. ascription: So these four dimensions of Trompenar also affect the selection process of an expatriate for international assignments. 1.17 Strategic choices in expatriate selection: Organizations normally have some strategic choices while selection of an expatriate. These strategic choices are mentioned below. Internal recruitment versus external recruitment Individuals versus teams Technical qualification versus other selection criteria Extrinsic rewards versus intrinsic rewards. Chapter 2 Literature Review: In this chapter researcher tried to discuss all the related studies which are done in past and are available in literature. A lot of work has been done in the literature on the topic of selection. Before proceeding to the actual topic it is necessary to look at the different methods of selection which an organization uses and see that what are the different techniques and criteria which are used for the selection of staff. 2.1 Selection: Moore (2006) discussed this as the selection is the whole process which includes choosing the right candidate for the position from those persons who have been recruited. This involves testing and evaluating the skills of an individual is required for the particular job. According to Dessler (2000) the selection is the process in which the recruited individual is whittled down by using screening tools like assessment centers, interviews, and different tests. 2.2 Expatriate selection: According to (Dowling, Welch, Schuler, 1999, pg: 154) Multinationals take great care in their selection process, however predicting future performance potential of the concerned staff is challenging at the best of times especially operating in foreign environments adds another level of uncertainty. The expatriate selection process results in higher cost to the multinationals including relocation process, allowance and accommodation apart from the training costs. (Hailey 2000, pg; 90). During the expatriate selection process, 02 conflicting forces operate within the expatriate’s mind. One that pulls the employee into moving to the new place, the other tends to stop him from going (Baruch 2005, pg 129). 2.3 Importance of an Expatriates and International Assignments: The world is globalizing very rapidly and change has become necessary for the organization to survive and to gain competitive advantage internationally. According to Harris and Brewster, 1999. The rapidly globalizing world has increased the need for the international assignments and many of the organizations started considering international management experience for the top management. So the international assignments are becoming an important part for the success of an organization to gain competitive advantage. As discussed by Chen, Tzeng Tang, 2005 that organizations internationalize their operation to gain success and to increase its market value internationally and for this purpose an organization needs effective expatriate who can perform its task properly. In this new era the importance of expatriate has increased because expatriates are the ones who can give an organization proper international exposure and make the organization successful. 2.4 Selection Process: One of the most studied areas for the expatriate selection is the selection process of the expatriate. The selection of expatriate has always been difficult procedure for the multinational organizations. Swaak quotes one HR executive who said. â€Å"My job is to find people in a hurry.† So this system is highly crisis-oriented and unsophisticated. Swaak , 1995. Further confirming the problems for the nature of the selection process Still and Smith (1997) report the results of Australian research, which shows that there were a number of different ways through which expatriates were selected. They studied that the most impressive and important form of selection or evaluation of the expatriate was recommendation of the person by the line manager including chief executive officer or specialist persons. Mostly expatriates in the multinational organizations in a knee-jerk reaction to the need to fill a new or unexpected vacancies overseas. Actually there are well informed intercultural trainers or a good HR professional who selects the expatriates but basically it is HR department within multinational organization who selects the expatriate finally. Managements choose the most technical and competent candidates which makes the expatriates successful internationally. (Shilling, 1993 pg 58). 2.5 Types of selection Process: Psychometric Tests Assessment Centers Coffee machine system 2.5.1 Psychometric Tests: According to Passmore, 2008 Psychometrics are the widely used testing method for the selection of the employee and personal development. The psychological test is always important for the selection of the employee especially for the selection of an international manager. According to the validity of psychological tests is disputed. According to Sparow and Brewster (2007) the psychologists the variation between the different natured job test is very small (Schmidt and Hunter , 1998). According to a survey done by The Graduate Recruitment in 2007 two third or about 67 percent of 219 respondents surveyed said that the results of psychometric test had some influence on recruiting and selection decisions, and 24 percent said that it has strong influence, and only 2 percent said that these test does not have any influence. So the above figure shows the importance of psychometric tests. According to Sparow and Brewster (2007) psychological assessment increasingly involves the application of tests in different cultural contexts, either in a single country or different countries. Now a day the demand of cross cultural assessment test is increasing due to the increasing factor of globalization to gain competitive advantage in international market. According to Mendenhall and Oddou, 1985 one of the important option for evaluating the selection process is the use of psychological tests and evaluation dvices. There are number of instruments available to measure the stress level of an individual. Figure: 2.1 (Source: article by Jonathan Passmore, Bread and butter â€Å"How to use psychometrics for coaching†) In figure 2.1 the real importance of psychometric test is shown. Psychometric tests are reliable that the selected person will be the one on whom one can rely. And obviously these kinds of tests are valid for any kind of job. The most important point in this test is that it does not include any biasness and the selectors cannot show the biasness while selecting on the basis of psychometric tests. These tests are also standard for different jobs. So all the above mentioned qualities and factors involve in the psychometric tests. In other words one can say that almost all the abilities present in an individual’s mind can be noticed, and the end result will always ends up in the right selection of expatriate. 2.5.2 Assessment Centre: As the assessment centers are considered to be one of the best selection techniques so according to Sparow and Brewster assessment centers will be the best idea as a selection technique to assess the competency of international managers. This is rarely the case, however. According to sparrow (1999) Even where assessment centers are used to select the managers in international settings, the key cross cultural assessment centers seems to be to design the assessment process so that it is very adaptable to local environment in which it will be operated. So there is need of cross culture assessment centers in which international managers can be assessed accordingly with the changing environment. Krause and Gebert (2003) have done study on international literature on the conception, operation and evaluation of assessment centers. He examined 281 German firms whose language was German and he compares them with the previously studied firms of United States of America. Study showed that both the American and German firms use the assessment centers but the purpose of some of them was different from the basics. For example the competencies assessed for job analysis might be identified through the use of interviews with job incumbents in 79% of US firms and only 39% of German firms. Most of the German firms rely on interviews for the selection of international managers or expatriates. so the assessment centers are considered to be an important process for expatriate selection. 2.5.3 Coffee Machine System This system was the idea of Harris and Brewster (1999) the key findings of the study show the reality of the selection process for expatriate selection in the organizations. In many organizations the selection process falls under what we call ‘coffee machine system’ and this system is the most common form of expatriate selection. What happens is that the senior line manager is standing by the coffee machine when he/she is joined by the colleague: ‘How’s it going?’ ‘Oh, you know, overworked and underpaid.’ Actually Jimmy in Mumbai has just fallen ill and is being flown home. I don’t know who I can choose to work over there at very short notice of time. It is driving me crazy. ‘Have you met Simon on the fifth floor?’ he is working in the same line of work. He is very good and bright and looks like going a long way. He was telling me that he and his wife had great holiday in Goa a couple of years ago. He seems to like India. Could be worthy to speak to him. Hey, thanks I will check and speak to him. ‘No problem. They don’t seem to be able to improve this coffee though, do they?’ What happen in the organization next is that the manger will take some decision and will have informal discussion with his seniors about Simon and then that man will be called and interviewed and selected for the required position. Accordingly HR department and financial department will be involved in the process and the formal and systematic process will be started. This method is rarely used in the organizations in particular cases when there is an urgent need to fill the position of expatriate. 2.6 Niche Assessments According to Bolt (2008 ) Many assessment venders specialize in certain niches and offer off-the-shelf products to meet clients’ testing needs. However, vendors can find such persons or individuals for the company who can fit in the organizations new environment and can coop with the new organization’s culture. Testing is the most important part of the application process of the candidate because testing gives the good idea of the individual’s abilities and competencies. 2.7 Factors involved in selection Process: There are number of factors which affect the performance of expatriate. Dowling, Welch, Schuler, (1999) recognised some of the important and most affective factors and these are the factors which involved to determine an appropriate expatriate selection process. All the factors are shown in a model below. Cross-cultural Suitability MMNE requirements SELECTION DECISION FFamily requirements LLanguage TTechnical Ability CCountry-cultural requirement Figure: 2.2 Source: (Factors in expatriate selection, pg 77 Dowling, Welch, Schuler, 1999). Figure 2.2 shows the factors which are required for an expatriate each of the above mentioned factors is discussed in detail below. 2.7.1 Technical Ability: According to Hays, 1971 All expatriates are assigned abroad to complete some task weather its building a dam, running some business, or teaching it all depends on the personal technical ability to perform that task. Obviously it is important to consider the individuals’ personal ability to perform the required task assigned to the expatriate. So in selection it is another important area which needs to look at. Different research findings show that the multinational organization give a lot of importance to the technical abilities of the individuals going abroad for international assignments at the time of their selection. According to Harvey and Novicevic,(2001) that technical and functional expertise has been the primary criterion for selecting expatriate managers for assignments. Hixon found that the selection was based on technical ability and willingness to reside abroad. If the individual is selected without keeping in view its technical ability. It can create the big problems for the multinational organizations to complete its related task or assignment. Reinforcing the emphasis on technical skills is the relative ease with which the multinational may assess the potential candidate’s potential, since technical and managerial competence can be determined on the basis of past performance of the individual who is going to be selected as expatriate. In fact domestic selection cannot be equal to the international selection but person can be selected on the basis of past domestic records which he has performed domestically as the basic criteria is always the same in all the multinational organizations so on the basis of past abilities there should not be any problem for the organizations to select the expatriates. This approach is also found by Foster and Johnsen,(1996) who report the results of the research into the expatriate selection practices for the newly internationalized UK organizations which shows that organizations keep in view the technical skills, and previous domestic records while selecting expatriate for international assignments. 2.7.2 Cross Cultural Suitability: The environment and the culture where an expatriate is going is an important factor for an expatriate. So the selectors of the expatriates should always consider the factor of culture for the expatriate. Although these factors does not guarantee for an expatriate for his successes but if these factors are not considered it can lead it towards the failure of expatriate. If the culture is considered then it is always important to study the Hofsted’s dimensions for cross culture and Trompenaar’s dimensions so these researches are explained in detail as follows. 2.7.3 Culture: Culture is always important for any expatriate selection, so it is very necessary for HR managers and selectors to keep the factor of culture in view while selecting expatriate for international assignments. There have been a lot of studies on culture and there are a lot of different definitions of culture some of them are given below. (Kluckholn Strodtbeck 1952) define culture as, â€Å"a set of basic assumptions-shared solutions to universal problems of external adaptation (and internal integration- which have evolved over time and are handed down from one generation to the next.’’ The life style of people living in the society is called culture it includes the social, economical, political, religious, life style of the individuals in the country. According to Drennan, 1992 â€Å"whatever is going around is called culture.† Culture is the way of life of a group of people. There are obvious differences between the different cultures such as language, dress, religion, beliefs, and behaviours of the people, and there are also implicit differences between the two cultures such as in values, assumptions about how things should be. so these different degrees of explicitness are often called the culture.(ScullionLinehan,2005). So the culture is very important factor for the selection of expatriate because the individuals move from one culture to another culture for the completion of their assignment. 2.7.4 Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Greet Hofstede’s culture’s consequences (1980, 2001) explores the differences in thinking and social action at the country level between members of 50 nations and three regions. Hofstede originally used IBM employees’ answers to company attitude survey conducted twice, around 1968 and 1972. The survey generated more than 116,000 questionnaires with the number of respondents used in the analysis being approximately 30,000 in 1969 and 41000 in 1973. Hofstede identified and validated four cultural dimensions from respondents patterned answers. For each dimension, he presented possible origins as well as predictors and consequences for management behavior. Hofsted’s four dimensions are as follows Power Distance Uncertainty Avoidance Individualism versus Collectivism Masculinity versus Femininity Another dimension which is fifth dimension presented by Michael Bond is Long term versus Short term Orientation was subsequently developed from a research to accommodate non-western orientations and has been adopted from the Chinese Culture Connection study. Power distance: The dimension indicates the extent to which a society expects and accepts a high degree of inequality in institutions and organizations. It refers to the relationship between supervisors and subordinates. It reflects the extent to which the less powerful members of organisations expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. In organisations an illustration of a high power distance score is generally represented as a highly vertical hierarchical pyramid. Subordinates are often told or ordered about a particular task but they are not normally entitled to discuss the decision made by the top management so basically the meaning of power distance is that higher the person in hierarchy the more difficult will be this person to approach. So there are some barriers for that person to see their top management. The barriers can be of different ways like the person barriers or the employee is not allowed to see the top manager or they are not allowed to attend the high managerial level meetings in which decisions are made. So basically power distance shows the distance between a supervisor and his employee. Uncertainty avoidance: This refers to the degree to which a society prefers predictability, security and stability. According to Hofsted the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknown situations. He argued that high uncertainty avoidance is expressed for example by a company’s need for regulations which tends to minimize in the behaviour of its employees. Company rules are such thing which cannot be broken by the employees even if he think that breaking the rule is in company’s best interest in such sort of environment the work stress is more and uncertainty avoidance is high. On the other hands if the employees are less affected by uncertainty is called low uncertainty avoidance. Individualism-Collectivism: this dimension relates to the extent to which people prefer to take care of themselves and their immediate families rather than being bound to some wider collectively such as extended family. Hofsted ask the IBM individuals that how important is to keep in view his work goals rather than the organisation. If there is preferred work goals stress dependence on organisation. For example good physical working condition, good ventilation enough space individualism in the work place can be seen. Collectivism can be seen in preference of collective organis

Alcohol, Sex, and Violence in Catcher in the Rye :: Catcher Rye Essays

How Holden Deals With Alcohol, Sex, and Violence in Catcher in the Rye The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, depicts how a lonely teenager, Holden Caulfield, deals with alcohol, sex, and violence. Teenagers must also deal with these problems daily. Alcohol is very predominate throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye. Alcoholic beverages are a readily available, and relatively inexpensive for minors to get. Over the past couple of years, teenage consumption of alcohol has risen dramatically. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism states that more than 1.3 million teenagers have a drinking problem. The National Institute also reports that the reason for underage teenage drinking is they believe in a mixture of rebellion towards their parents and a sign of maturity. Another reason for teenage drinking is it represents a daring gesture. According to Dr. Joseph Franklin, "The way drinking starts is, one kid dares another kid to take a drink of alcohol, and the kid doesn't want his friends to think he is a coward so he does. Then the rest of them follow." In the book, Between Parent and Teenager, it states the substance abuse is the number one cause of death amongst teenagers. Studies show that among high school students age 14 - 17, 60% of the students use alcohol once a week, 75% use it at least once a month, and 85% have used it once in the year. In the novel, Holden Caulfield has very easy access to alcoholic beverages. Throughout the novel, it seems that every time Holden gets depressed, he turns towards alcohol. in Chapter 12, Holden is at Ernie's night club and he got served even though he was only a minor. In Chapter 20, Holden gets drunk. The way he acted when he was drunk shows how pathetic you are when you can not function properly. The next topic, sex, is a very common word nowadays. Sex is so common it is on television screens, blown up on billboards, and used for commercial enticement. It also seems that teenage men are purchasing cars and teenage girls are receiving more freedom from their parental figures. A couple years back,

Crucial Role of Innovation in Competitive Success Essay -- Business, S

Innovation has become widely recognized as a key to competitive success (Francis & Bessant, 2005). Scholars are mainly concerned with innovation because of the life requirements and the persistent desire for continuous change to be in accordance with individuals' needs and desires (Badawy, 1993). Developments in all aspects of life are attributed to innovation. Peter Ducker, one of the administration scholars, says that innovation is one of the main forces in economic and social development and a basic tool in the growing, resistance and adaptability of the contemporary organizations with the changing environmental conditions as those organizations with no innovation will shortly remove (Drucker, 1995). Leaders of businesses of all sizes and from all industries make innovation among their top priorities and concerns (Scantlebury & Lawton, 2007). Innovation is recently considered as a key factor for achieving sustainable competitive advantages and, by extension, for the success of businesses in the market (Cooper & Kleinschmidt, 1987; Damanpour & Evan, 1984; Damanpour & Gopalakrishnan, 2001; Damanpour et al., 1989; Hitt et al., 1997; Kleinschmidt & Cooper, 1991; Rogers, 1983; Subramanian & Nilakanta, 1996). The main reason is that innovative ï ¬ rms are more ï ¬â€šexible and have a greater capacity to adapt to changes. This can protect them when the climate is unstable, they can respond faster to changes, create new opportunities and exploit existing ones to a greater extent than the competition (Drucker, 1985; Miles & Snow, 1978). In the age of the knowledge and economy, the rapidly The successful changes occurring in the contemporary organizations environment are based in essence on the human source that is one of the main assets in... ... to innovate is influenced by external factors to the organization as well as by internal factors. The five innovation drivers observed by Cooper (2005) appear to be the external factors, while ITC which is proposed by Zhang et al. (2008) and organizational culture elements proposed by Schlegelmilch et al. (2003) and Cravens et al. (2002), are more internally oriented. Drake et al. (2006) identified a need for studies to examine the relative importance of various factors contributing to a firm’s innovation capability. The need was further confirmed by number of writers (Barlow, 2002; Currah, 2007; Miozzo & Dewick, 2002). This needs forming the overarching motivation for this study. This study examines the influence of organizational culture and Cooper’s five drivers on innovation capability and identifies the mediating role of information technology capability. â€Æ'

Market Research †Case Study Spaghetti Fettuccini Essay

1. Establish the goals of research that should be developed. There are several goals of research that should be developed for Fettuccini S.A.. First of all, they need to properly analyze their current situation and know especially the Spanish consumer’s behaviour and expectations in order to adapt their product to the market’s demands. Also, they need to consider their potential new costumers. They also need to analyze their competition, get to know what products and at what price they are selling and what are the competitor’s weaknesses so that they can get strategic advantage out of their position. The company has some experiences with selling whole grain pasta, but they need to test their new products, especially the new pasta product line since it is a fresh product. Fettuccini S.A. also needs to find out if they should open their own points of sales or if they should rather focus on distribution to existing shops. Finally, they need to establish a marketing strategy in order to know what kind of advertisement is the most suitable and effective for their business, and the way in which they want to transmit their messages. As the company had problems with punctual delivery and their service in general before, it would definitely be necessary to investigate also about these two points. They are not acceptable and must be improved once the reasons for both of these weaknesses are figured out. Another problem which should be resolved by investigating within the company is the company’s structure itself; it is not efficient since the different departments are located in different areas of Spain. Such a decentralized management is not agile enough for a company of Fettuccini’s size and produces too high costs. 2. Through the Internet, conduct a research to determine the secondary market for fresh pasta and define the main competitors of our company. The Fettuccini Company has already investigated on the secondary distribution of some new products such as freshly prepared pasta in order to diversify their offer, which was marketed in the fast-food restaurants of an accredited company in Madrid. Since the primary market for Fettuccini S.A. is the public administration, I would consider the following possible secondary private markets. An estimation of the world pasta production gives us an idea of the positioning of the Spanish pasta market. The estimated world pasta production in 2012 has been around 13.5 million tonnes, distributed as follows[1]: Spain has produced 252,208 tons and is ranked on the 13th position of the global pasta producers while number one, Italy, has produced 3,316,728 tons. As far as the pasta consumption is concerned, Italy dominates with 26.0 kg/ capita, while Spain only consumes 5.0 kg/ capita[2]. Although the pasta market in Spain is not as huge as in Italy, there is still enough potential for successful production and distribution of pasta products. The main competitors of Fettuccini S.A. come mainly from Italy and are companies like Buitoni with 22% of the market share, El Pavo, Rana or Gallo with a 10% of the total market share[3]. Other smaller competitors could possibly be Gusti d’Italia S.R.L., EGO Internationl S.R.L. or Tomasicchio Giuseppe[4]. The secondary market for fresh pasta products in Spain is â€Å"on counter†, which would be through chains serving fresh products such as Nostrum, Fresco etc., and also the traditional restaurants serving fresh pasta. Another big secondary market for fresh pasta are supermarkets[5]. Furthermore, specialized small shops selling food to take away for example should also be taken into account as potential customers. Delicatessen shops and restaurants can also be interesting partners for Fettuccini S.A. since both are offering high quality and exclusive fresh products. Another big secondary market are companies who offer catering or lunch service for their employees, and who might be interested in receiving daily fresh pasta dishes. The big opportunity for Fettuccini S.A. in this secondary market is that they produce in Spain, which means they should be able to deliver a lot faster and at a more competitive price. 3. Define the qualitative technique that you will use and introduce a dash of qualitative questions. In order to obtain data and useful information about what Fettuccini S.A. can expect from their potential market, get to know the preferences of their costumers and establish themselves in the market, they could use several qualitative techniques such as focus groups, triads, dyads, in-depth interviews, uninterrupted observation, bulletin boards, and ethnographic participation/observation. But due to the problem that many of these techniques are not only expensive, but especially time-consuming and the responses might be difficult to interpret, Fettuccini S.A. should in my opinion work with focus groups and combine the results with the results obtained from observation in points of sales, for example. Both for the focus groups and for the observations in points of sales, this could be combined with letting people taste the fresh pasta products and afterwards asking them specific questions.