Twins - Biologically, Physically, and Psychologically...

What would it be like to have a twin? This is a question people often ponder. People often say that they see someone that resembles someone they already know. It is almost like dejavu. â€Å"Twin† comes from the German word â€Å"twine† meaning â€Å"two together† (Nagy 1). Most people automatically think of two people who look just alike when they hear the word â€Å"twin†. However, there is a lot more to twins than just looking alike. Twins are the most common type of multiple births. Many think there are only two types of twins, identical and fraternal; they often leave out conjoined twins. Twins are very unique and fascinating individuals because of their similarities biologically, physically, and psychologically. An author from the twin’s†¦show more content†¦The overall survival rate for these twins is somewhere between five and twenty-five percent (Sanders 2). This means that the majority of conjoined twins die within twenty-four hours of birth. For the few who survive the traumatic beginning, surgical separation is often possible for conjoined twins. The average survival rate after surgery is around forty-six percent (Sanders 2). This percent depends greatly on the location of the attachment and the organs that are shared. There is some controversy over the separation of conjoined twins. In some cases separation has turned into a moral issue. A prime example of how dependent one twin is on the other is in the case of the British conjoined twins, Jodie and Mary. Jodie was stronger and more capable than her sister. Mary was weak and was only alive because she was attached to Jodie. However, Mary’s weakness would eventually make Jodie weak as well. The parents were burdened with a moral dilemma, which would result with the loss of at least one child (Sanders 4). If Mary and Jodie were separated, one would likely die. Some separations are more difficult to complete than others. Parents of conjoined twins have to think about all of the factors before they proceed with a separation. There are also factors to think about after separation. If both twins survive the separation, they may still need an enormous amount of medical treatment throughout their life. In addition to medical treatment, they will probablyShow MoreRelatedPhysical And Behavioral Changes Of A Child s Temperament, And Capacities That Are Inherited From One s Parents1602 Words   |  7 Pageswere in jail for violent offenses and 96 psychologically healthy Finnish men who were not incarcerated. The result was that seventeen of the 96 inmates had the gene mutation for violent behavior, a rate three times that of the non-incarcerated participants. In a different manner, nurture working alongside nature is the â€Å"environmental influences that shape behavior†. Nurture can influence children’s experiences through multiple means, such as biologically, through the impact of a pregnant mother’sRead MoreTwins Two Lives...One Personality1924 Words   |  8 PagesTwins Two LivesÂ….One Personality What would it be like to have a twin? This is a question people often ponder. People often say that they see someone that resembles someone they already know. It is almost like dejavu. Twin comes from the German word twine meaning two together (Nagy 1). Most people automatically think of two people who look just alike when they hear the word twin. However, there is a lot more to twins than just looking alike. Twins are the most common type of multipleRead MoreRisk on Studen Prostitute in Zamboanga City4811 Words   |  20 Pagessex industry. There are corresponding risks that a student prostitute can acquire namely some sexually diseases that they can get through the intercourse and also in her personality, her outlook towards the society whether it is emotionally or physically.(Weitzer, Ronal, 2005) RELATED LITERATURE All prostitution causes harm to women. Whether it is being sold by one’s family to a brothel, or whether it is being sexually abused in one’s family, running away from home, and then being pimpedRead MoreDevelopmental Psychology14082 Words   |  57 PagesTHE COURSE OF DEVELOPMENT: ONE OR MANY * FACTORS THAT DETERMINE DEVELOPMENT (NATURE/NURTURE) Introduction Child development has many theories with different ideas about what children are like and how they change. Children are beings who change physically, cognitively emotionally and socially. There are many different theories and they all take a stand on 3 basic issues: Is the course of development continuous or discontinuous? Does one coarse of development characterise all children or are thereRead MoreDevelopmental Psychology14091 Words   |  57 PagesCOURSE OF DEVELOPMENT: ONE OR MANY * FACTORS THAT DETERMINE DEVELOPMENT (NATURE/NURTURE) Introduction Child development has many theories with different ideas about what children are like and how they change. Children are beings who change physically, cognitively emotionally and socially. There are many different theories and they all take a stand on 3 basic issues: Is the course of development continuous or discontinuous? Does one coarse of development characterise all children or are thereRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 Pagesand Shattered Assumptions, Journal of Applied Social † Psychology 40, no. 10 (2010), pp. 2616–2635. shown many managers hold â€Å"common sense† opinions regarding effective management that have been flatly refuted by empirical evidence. We find a similar problem in chasing the business and popular media for management wisdom. The business press tends to be dominated by fads. As a writer for The New Yorker put it, â€Å"Every few years, new companies succeed, and they are scrutinized for the underlyingRead MoreOcd - Symptoms, Causes, Treatment131367 Words   |  526 Pagescognitive theory of emotional disorders. From these two theoretical perspectives on clinical disorders, a new cognitive-behavioral approach to obsessions and compulsions was born. In many respects, my own professional development has taken a path similar to that seen in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for obsessional states. My roots are in the behavioral tradition, dating back to the early 1980s when I was a graduate student at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, England. My interest in OCDRead Mor eDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pageswas an amazing $41,000 per employee higher in companies demonstrating strong people management skills than in firms that had a lower emphasis on people management (Huselid Becker, 1997). A study of German firms in 10 industrial sectors produced similar results: â€Å"Companies that place workers at the core of their strategies produce higher long-term returns . . . than their industry peers† (Blimes, Wetzker, Xhonneux, 1997). A study of five-year survivability in 136 nonfinancial companies that issued

Should College Tuition Be Based on Major Free Essays

Professor Johnson EC 111H 26 October 2012 The Problem with College Tuition Every year, students wishing to attend college are faced with the steep price that comes with their prospective education. For many, the belief that it will play dividends in the long run is enough reason to pay the high price. However, college majors have a wide variance of starting median salaries, which leads to the question of whether or not tuition should be based on your field of study. We will write a custom essay sample on Should College Tuition Be Based on Major or any similar topic only for you Order Now Students knowing they will be making less than another student after graduating should not be required to pay the same tuition. College tuition is too high. Since the demand for an education and the supply of schools are both high, cost should be low. What we see, however, are colleges taking advantages of what people see as necessary in todays society, a college degree, and raising the prices in awareness people will pay it no matter what. Keeping the same system we have today will not fix the amount people are paying. Basing tuition off majors can change what universities are charging for the better. However, there is the question on what majors you raise. Many argue that the higher paying jobs should receive the increase, while others say the degrees in demand should stay the same or lower, while the other not as important majors deserve the raise. While the concept of basing tuition off majors sounds simple enough, it brings about a number of problems. The first and perhaps biggest problem is that the majors with a higher tuition receive would more funding. This leads to better professors, more resources, and an overall better education. Engineering majors, for example, have the highest average starting salary according to TIME Magazine. If their tuition was increased because of the potential monetary benefit, than the university would have the obligation to focus more on that major than a social work major, who are paid the least on average. Not only could it impact the universities allocation of funds, it could also influence people’s decisions on why they are picking a certain major. In the state of Florida, for example, they are trying to change the state’s public universities change to base tuition off of your major. Their belief is to keep the costs down of the majors that are important to the state. If the state needs more social workers or engineers, then those costs would stay low, while other â€Å"unnecessary† majors tuition is increased. Also, there is again an emphasis in the programs the state needs, meaning the funds of the college are going to the degrees high in demand. If students only focus on what the state sees as important, it could cause a lack of students in other equally important majors. Some argue it is not fair to send a drama major deep into debt and leave an engineering major well of right out of school. However, if it will stimulate the economy and add more jobs, than you can argue putting an emphasis on higher demanded degrees is necessary. Since it is our own tax dollars that they are using at these public institutions, it is in our own interest to have students who will further our economy rather than be unemployed after graduation. On the other hand, The University of Nebraska-Lincoln charges on based on starting exit salary. They charge an extra fifty dollars per credit in their business and engineering programs. They believe that since the programs are more demanding, take more resources to complete, and lead to higher salary If you look at the highest paid majors, you see it dominated by engineering and business degrees. A petroleum engineering major makes on average $98,000 out of college, while an economics degree could earn you $48,500, but $94,000 in the long run. This is attractive to many students, who desire to be making high salaries. With the high salary comes hard work, and the hard work put in is worth more. Engineers, for example, require labs and experiments that cost large amounts of money. Doctors have to study in hospitals and take hand on classes that also consumes university budgets. On the other hand, English majors are focused more on their books, which are individually expensive, but don’t cost universities much money. Universities should be obliged to allocate funds into the degrees that benefit them the most. They should not have to put as much money into a degree that does not make them money, as colleges are a business. There is no clear-cut choice on which way this system will work most effectively. It is obvious that both systems have their pros and cons. While one system favors government interest, the other favors university interests. Either way, people will be affective both positively and negatively. The way the state of Florida is approaching this looks stronger. If students who are going to help out the economy are rewarded by lower tuition, they will be more inclined to do so. And the degrees will start to vary, because once the need for doctors is filled, a state could now realize there is a need for economists. Also, if students are aware of what degrees business are most looking for, than there will be a better chance of them being hired straight out of the completion of there degree. College tuition needs to change, and basing it on your major is a great way to start. How to cite Should College Tuition Be Based on Major, Papers

Canterbury Tales And Lady Bath Essay Example For Students

Canterbury Tales And Lady Bath Essay Many characters in The Canterbury Tales are only described in the smallest detail. Only a handful are given a physical description and even fewer are actually given names to go by. A character that has a most descriptive detail and also one, whom has a name, is Alice, the Wife of Bath. This majestic lady is very proud of what she has accomplished in life. Also, to defend her ways she uses logic and reason, Chauncer also, never judges her like he does to many other characters, but lets her speak for herself. Although one would imagine the Lady of Bath to be ashamed of her way of life, she simply is not. With her four dead ex-husbands, she has received plenty of money and valuables. While married, Chauncer gives the impression that Alice also had many affairs. These affairs have almost definitely added to her personal wealth. Married now to her fifth husband, who is much younger, because of love and not just dependent on how much money he has. Throughout Alices storytelling, the characters tend to attack her. She simply comes back using simple logic and reasoning. Her basic method of thinking is that if god did not want one to have sex, he would not of given the human race the ability to do so. The ladies behaviour is also very up-front and she enjoys talking a great deal. Yet with having this sort of an attitude, it gives the reader a real look at one of the most described and interesting characters that Chauncer writes about. Most other characters from The Canterbury Tales are judged by Chauncers personal standards and the standards from that particular time period. Alice, the Wife of Bath however, is not judged like this. Chauncer lets the reader decide how to judge her and create her image. He also uses very little irony and sarcasm when he, and other characters talk about Alice. Chauncer simply lets the reader decide how to judge her from telling of her behaviour that was most unusual for that time period. The reader can easily create an accurate judgment of her, mainly because of her up-front attitude towards many aspects of life. As seen, the great Alice, Wife of Bath, is proud of her lifestyle and will go to great lengths to defend it. She is also the only character that the reader can judge for himself or herself with little input from Chauncer. Perhaps being the most described character from the novel gives one the impression that she could also be one of the most important. Her introduction in the prologue, which is one of the longest, also indicated this. All of these characteristics combined; let one visualize a grand picture of this lady.

Poland And Czech Reform Essays - Decommunization, Economy Of Poland

Poland And Czech Reform After the fall of communism, several different countries decided that it was time to reform both current economic and political policies. Two countries that have had major economic reforms are Poland and the Czech Republic. However, the process of that change is different, each country had a different idea of how to become a new economic power in the 1990's. In December 1989, the new government, led by members of the labor union Solidarity, launched a reform program designed to transform Poland's economy into a free-market system. Price controls were lifted, while wage controls were imposed. State enterprises were transformed into joint-stock companies, and many were scheduled for eventual privatization or purchase by foreign investors. The restructuring of the Polish economy resulted in a massive layoff of workers and a rapid rise in unemployment. Poland's GDP declined sharply in 1990 and 1991. Poland had relied heavily on agriculture and would have been easier to reform if its exhausted industrial regions could have been abandoned. Poland may have been the first to try a rapid, sweeping conversion, deemed by the press as "shock therapy." This conversion was to a capitalism and free market. It was also the first to overcome the resultant drop in economic output. Economic growth returned as early as the first half of 1992, and voters should have begun to notice the benefits by September 1993. However, rather than reformers gaining approval, the renamed communist party captured the largest number of seats in the Polish parliament in the elections that month. This was yet another step back for the reforming process. After its initial decline, Poland's economy began to improve. Annual GDP increased between 1992 and 1997, when it reached $135.7 billion. Industrial production increased by about 12 percent in 1994, which, accompanied by a 2 percent drop in unemployment, represented a major increase in labor productivity. Inflation remained above government goals but steadily declined, with an annual rate of 30 percent in 1994 dropping to 18.5 percent in 1996. Although hundreds of enterprises were transferred to private ownership during 1994 and 1995, the pace of privatization was generally slow; the private sector's share of GDP remained at about 60 percent in 1995 and 1996. However, a new constitution adopted in May 1997 committed the country to pursuing a market economy and further privatization. In the early and mid-1990s Poland's foreign debt was significantly alleviated by concessions from creditors, which helped to attract increasing levels of foreign investment. The result of "shock therapy" for Poland was to emerge out after the fall of the former reigning communism, to take leaps and bounds in economic development. Another country, just south of Poland, the Czech Republic also economically reformed in the early 1990's. The Czech Republic has been traditionally among the most economically developed regions of Europe. When the Communists came to power in Czechoslovakia in 1948, they created a highly centralized economic system. Nearly all aspects of economic planning and management came under the control of the central government. Most of the country's economic assets were placed in state hands; economic managers and decision-makers were cut off from their counterparts in the West; and foreign trade was conducted almost exclusively with other Communist countries. Although the economy remained strong by Eastern European standards, with one of the highest standards of living in the Communist world, the policies adopted by the Communist government led to long-term economic decline in Czechoslovakia. After the collapse of Communism in 1989, the new leaders of Czechoslovakia had to deal with this legacy. In the early 1990's, the post-Communist government moved quickly to convert the economy to a system based on free enterprise. A number of reform measures were adopted, including a voucher privatization plan, which gave citizens, for a low administrative fee, coupons that could later be traded for stock in companies. The voucher plan successfully transferred large parts of the economy to private ownership. By December 1994 more than 80 percent of firms in the Czech Republic were privatized or had decided on a privatization strategy. Business boomed in Prague and other cities in the mid 1990's as entrepreneurs established new companies. The government has also succeeded in re-establishing trade with the West and obtaining substantial levels of foreign investment. The average standard of living in the Czech Republic dropped somewhat in the early 1990s as market reforms were introduced, but in recent years, the economy has begun to recover. Inflation was about 10 percent in late 1994, less than half of what it was in 1991. Gross domestic product (GDP) increased by

The Internet should be Censord essays

The Internet should be Censord essays Why the Internet Should be Censored Censorship, just the mention of the word alone, to some people, seems to threaten or somehow put into jeopardy our freedom of speech which we so dearly treasure and believe to be our innate right as citizens of the United States. Many flag waving Americans, with all the good intentions in the world, are ready to fight for the Letter of The Law, no matter how horrendous the consequences might be. I do not believe that Thomas Jefferson and our great forefathers, even as keen and intelligent as they were, had any inkling as to the incredible complexities that the new technological society of today would hold. They wrote in the best of faith for the common, decent, simple man, with great respect, and with as much foresight as they could envision for that time. That was back in 1788, in Philadelphia Pennsylvania which was in a much smaller and certainly much less sophisticated United States. I cant imagine that these great men, in all their wisdom, could possibly have envisioned serial rapists, serial murderer, child molesters, skin heads, nazis, much less the computer age and the intricate connection that they share. Today because it is the year 2000, soon to be 2001, sadly, we all know the words serial rapist, serial murder, child molester, skin head, and nazi. We see them on the internet, and we see them on the news. Do these two worlds connect? They certainly do, they collide! The internet, which was mostly supported financially by pornography when it was first conceived, (shocking, but a fact) has now become a somewhat safe hiding place and home for any psycho, pervert, or hate monger who has $21.95 a month to invest. This is the same internet, in which my family and yours also live. A while ago, my little sister wanted to find a Barbie web-site. I already knew that child molesters often use names like that to lure in little girls. They enter Pokemon...

Salary Negotiation for Women Close the Pay Gap! Part 1

Salary Negotiation for Women Close the Pay Gap! Part 1 Salary Negotiation for Women: Close the Pay Gap! Part 1 The following story, one that a friend related to me just a couple of days ago, has become all-too-familiar: Judy (fictitious name), a part-time assistant in my friend’s office, was offered a full-time position at a salary lower than she deserved, and lower than she had made in previous positions. She felt underappreciated, but wanted the full-time position. So she went home to discuss it with her husband, and came back the next day with her decision. She would accept the job. She did not negotiate, but instead accepted the low-ball offer. What she didn’t know is that the hiring manager had been prepared to give her more- if she had chosen to ask for it. Now, not only is Judy’s salary below her worth, but all her raises in the future will be based on a low starting point. To me, this situation is very sad. You’re probably aware of the pay gap between men and women in the workplace. Perhaps you’ve heard the statistic that women earn 80 cents to every dollar that men earn. The gap persists after controlling for college major, occupation, employment sector, and even requests for time off. Strikingly, this number varies depending on ethnicity: Asian women earn 94 cents to the men’s dollar; white women 82 cents, African American women 68 cents, and Hispanic women 61 cents. So while it does seem that the gap is due to underlying sexism and racism, some of it could also be due to women’s failure to ask for what they deserve. I wonder, are Asian women just better negotiators than their white, African American, and Hispanic peers? While the answer to that question is still a mystery to me, I learned a ton about the topic of salary negotiation in a webinar presented by Professor Deborah Ellis for YaleWomen, Salary Negotiation. Professor Ellis addressed the pay gap for women and how women can start making inroads into that gap through salary negotiation. In salary negotiation, there is nothing to fear but fear itself. Many women are scared that by negotiating they will lose the position completely- but that rarely happens. You might lose the negotiation, but you won’t get a worse package than what you were already offered. And more often, you’ll get what you want. One mid-level lawyer reported: â€Å"I negotiated, and there really wasn’t any back and forth. He just said yes to the request I made.† Hmmm†¦ Maybe men who are hiring are more scared of you than you are of them. They don’t want to lose you and they have already chosen you as the best person for the job. So you are in a position of power. Use it! Salary negotiation works for women! I wish more women understood their position of power and would reap the benefits of salary negotiation. But a study at Carnegie Mellon revealed that only 7% of women grad students negotiated vs. 57% of men. The average salary bump for negotiating was 7.4%, which translated to $500K over the course of a career! If you are a woman who doesn’t negotiate for your salary, I hope you’re getting that women DO succeed in salary negotiation. And you can too. There’s neuroscience at work here: If you think you will do well, you will do better than if you think you won’t do well. One way to convince yourself that you will do well is to know that others have succeeded before you. Women face unique challenges in salary negotiation. Many of the barriers to salary negotiation are internal. I’ve addressed some of those above. Also, women historically have a harder time advocating for themselves than they do for other people- but they are better than men at â€Å"representational negotiation†- fighting to get something for another person. Here’s a nifty trick offered by Professor Ellis: If you think you don’t deserve more for yourself, negotiate for someone else in your life, like your family, or even your dog. But ask! There are also external barriers faced by women. The reality is that women who make demands can be seen as adversarial or confrontational. So how you ask makes a difference. Here are some techniques to work against the negative perceptions that are out there: Don’t make demands in writing. Have a conversation, preferably in person or by Skype. Phone is okay too but it’s great to be able to see each other. Yep. Be friendly. Use â€Å"we† instead of â€Å"I†- make it about the team and working together toward a common cause. Express enthusiasm about the job from the get-go. Never say it’s non-negotiable. Ask questions vs. making demands. Examples: â€Å"Would you consider a salary of $xxx?† â€Å"What would you think of my working from home†¦?† Use humor. Use the power of silence. Let them fill the silence. Overall, keep in mind that the goal for both you and the employer is a continuing relationship. Both of you want to reach an amiable win-win solution. I hope you’re feeling more confident that you can go and negotiate for the compensation you want. Next week, I’ll share more about the nuts and bolts strategy of salary negotiation, which applies to men and women alike.

Networking Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Networking Management - Essay Example Typically network management software is based on a particular network management protocol. The capabilities provided with the software are basically based on the functionality support by the network management protocol. Most systems are not only using open protocols, but also vendor specific proprietary protocols. When selecting management software, the decision is driven by present status alerts and information to the operator, managed devices and network environment (Schwalbe 2005). IT Lab plans has plans to radically expand and upgrade its existing network infrastructure by opening new branches. This brings out more requirements and tasks for the administrator in terms of; management, monitoring and configuration. Expansion to remote branches requires remote configuration, proactive management with backbone links to all remote sites. IT support is critical and availability of the network will be a factor for support to consider. The fact that there is existing infrastructure will affect the compatibility and setup configuration of the additional devices. For this reason IT lab needs a solution to cut across the typical installed operational platform. It has built up a system that is not integrated and the consideration that integration costs more time and resources than available is crucial. The first option that IT lab has is using Sieomons NMS to manage their network. Evaluating the solution against their needs is the first task at hand. In comparison, Siemon is built for large networks with functionality to automate the critical and most important tasks of network management. Offering the unparalled ability to manage complex networks, Siemon’s solution fits many network administrators tasks as a general solution. Siemon provides a next generation intelligent infrastructure management solution. They have made an improvement on one of their

Financial Aspect of Health Care Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Financial Aspect of Health Care - Assignment Example This is because knowing the healthcare costs ensures financial efficiency of the patient. Cost knowledge enables the consumer to plan (budget) for products and services; this will enable him or her to choose the most appropriate and affordable health product or service provider. The exact total fraud value in the healthcare sector in the USA is not known. The Government Accountability Office, in 2010, illustrated that $48 billion dollars were used in improper payments in the health sector. That is approximately 10% of the outlays for that year totaling to $500 billion. However, Erick Holder, the US Attorney General illustrates that approximately $60-90 billion fraud in 2010 in the Medicaid and Medicare fraud (Pear, 2008). Waste occurs in the health sector programs through misallocation of financial resources; for example allocating a lot of finances to non essential projects. Cost containment entails controlling the expenses or costs needed in operating a healthcare organization, or implementing a health project within planned budgetary limits. Cost containment exercise is a significant management function, because it ensures cost efficiency. This is through using appropriate expenses to achieve intended healthcare targets. The most appropriate metaphor for cost containment is financial budget. This is because it sets limits in the financial use in healthcare, so as to realize efficiency and effective management of funds allocated for healthcare (Pear, 2008). Healthcare is considered a business because it applies the theory and principles of management. One of the principles of management illustrates a scalar chain of command. This describes the flow of authority and power from a single top level, to the lower levels of the health organizations. In healthcare, instructions flow from the top management of the health institution, through the middle management, to the lower and non-managerial staffs. Healthcare is a delivery system because; it aims at

Human digestion Essay Example for Free

Human digestion Essay The salivary glands are the first to react in the digestive process, which are usually triggered by either the sight or the smell of food. Food enters the digestive tract through the mouth where the teeth, tongue, and salivary glands help moisten and break down the food within minutes. The food then becomes something called a bolus, which will travel through the pharynx, then through the esophagus, and into the stomach. As the food travels through the pharynx the epiglottis is in place to prevent food from entering the lungs. Once the bolus enters the stomach it is broken down with acid secretions. The food is partially digested within the stomach. The bolus then becomes chyme (a semiliquid food). Chyme usually leaves the stomach during a time frame of 2-6 hours. The small intestine is where most of the digestion and nutrient absorption takes place with the help of secretions from the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas. The small intestine consists of three parts: the duodenum, the jejunum, and the ileum. Anything that is not absorbed in the small intestine then enters the large intestine travelling through the sphincter. The sphincter prevents any of the remaining food from re-entering the small intestine. The large intestine is made up of two major parts: the colon and the rectum. The colon aids in the absorption of leftover water, vitamins, or minerals. Anything left over after this process is considered waste product (feces) and is then excreted from the body via the anus, which is attached to the colon. Reference Human Digestion Activity. Retrieved August 21, 2009 from http://corptrain.phoenix.edu/axia/sci241/sci241-digestivetract.html

All People are Equal Within the World of Work Essay -- Papers

All People are Equal Within the World of Work I do not agree with the statement at all, allthough in a right normal world of work, it should be true. Many people often judge people by thier appearence, or past experience. It could be anything, discriminating someone is easilly done. And its often simple things like hair styles or piercings, disability or gender than can stop you from working where you want to. With nearly all jobs these days; you'll have to fill out an application form, which can be a nightmare to many people. But no just for things like trying to remember their old school grades or when they left school, its often because they have something they feel will jeapordise thier employment chances. Criminal records is a good one. In companies or bussiness' these days, they will ask if you have a spent or unspent conviction. Spent means that its been a certain while since your conviction, unspent being the opposite. Some places feel that if you havent 'spent' your conviction, (meaning you havent 'changed'...

Economic History Essay

The economic depression of the 1930’s was a time of great challenges for the American people. Historically, it is remembered as the time when most Americans faced losses of homes, farms, jobs, and lives because of the harshness of life following the onset of the Great Depression. While there are differing opinions by scholars as to what was the cause of the Great Depression depending on their own personal view of the American economy, the end result was the same and the program implemented to get America back on track, the New Deal, was one of the most wide-reaching and important social programs put in place by an American president in history. The causes of the economic depression are varied and extremely complex. In 1929, the stock market crash and the failure of many American banks resulted in the loss of fortunes for many Americans, and they were not able to regain their money because of the system in place at the time. The decline into the economic depression happened in the following three years, and scholars still debate what the real causes were. Some blame the free market, while others feel that the government was not involved enough in the economic development of the nation. Other economists point to the changes in the British economy. The British returned to the Gold Standard at pre-World War I parities, and economists like Peter Temin view this as the major reason for the economic depression in America during this period. Other changes helped bring about the depression as well. When businesses and people began to not be able to pay their debts, including mortgages, because of price deflation or lower demand for products, with the result being a 25% unemployment rate. In the end, the result was the same: poverty run rampant and a sense of hopelessness amongst Americans. The first time poverty was seen as a social problem was during the Great Depression, a time when so many Americans were facing economic despair and lack of employment. It was a hopeless time for many Americans, and the President responded with strong social programs to help get the country back on track. The New Deal, including the Works Progress Administration and Social Security, helped to give Americans something to fall back on when times were tough, as well as something to build upon to help them get out of their current state of helplessness. Regulations were instituted, minimum prices and wages were put into place, encouraged unions, and setting labor codes and standards. It was the first time the government had given a hand up to Americans in poverty. The New Deal was radical in many ways because prior to this, the government did not view poverty as a social problem that the government needed to deal with. The American people were suffering from hard time, as was American business, and because of this economic depression America was set back in terms of growth. This change caused the President to radically change the way the government thought about poverty. When people study the progression of poverty from being simply a part of everyday American life to being a social problem that required attention and governmental intervention, both on a national and international level, they need to understand that for many years poverty was thought to be a necessary evil, and many people felt that they could not help overcome the poverty they saw many people living in. Without this balance, a society will fall into a situation where there are only those in poverty and those in wealth. When Roosevelt was faced with issues of extreme poverty in a large segment of the American public he knew that he had to react. In Roosevelt’s case, he reacted with short-term and long-term solutions in the form of help to find the unemployed work and Social Security, still in use today. These radical new programs, known as the New Deal, were an important movement in American economic history as it marked a time when the United States began to take more action in the business and economic affairs of its nation, starting with the programs implemented with the New Deal.

Lagaan

The movie entitled â€Å"Lagaan† is a depiction of ancient Indian society. Indian is full of dignity in this story. The director and the writer wanted to convey in their film the meaning and essence of Indian culture. Despite of all the odds, circumstances, and failures that they experienced within their environment and in the hands of the colonizers, they strive hard to be the best at anything. Playing cricket is one of the most significant occurrences that they wanted to share as a way of showing their culture and tradition. Bhuvan as the main character in the story became the leader of everyone in their community. They accepted the challenge of the British captain and convicted to gain their dignity and pride. The story showed the narrative of Indian life during the colonial period. It represents the social, psychological, political, and economic life of Indians where culture surrounds all of it. The director wanted to share his thoughts on the issues that Indians always experience all throughout their lives. However, Indian culture and society has no fear of everything whether things go wrong or right within them. This is what the director and the writer wanted to impose in their story. They wanted their audience to understand the meaning of India not as a country in defeat and weaknesses but also with pride and strength to face anything. At the end of the story, the director leaves its audience the imagination of overcoming the circumstances in the community. There is a question in the end of the movie – will Bhuvan and his team win from the captain? There is one big conflict at the end of it – one of Bhuvan’s team was paid to lose the game. It shows that the resolution of the story lies within the audience. It depends on what they wanted at the end whether to win the Indians or losing their dignity and pride towards the colonizers. Reference Ashutosh Gowariker. Lagaan. 2002.

How Women in the Workplace are Finding Success in Nontraditional Jobs

How Women in the Workplace are Finding Success in Nontraditional Jobs Traditionally, women have found it difficult to receive equal treatment and pay compared to their male counterparts. It’s no secret that men have an advantage in the workplace for more reasons than one. It’s also no secret that women in the workplace are at a disadvantage. The good news is that  women in the workplace are finding more and more success in nontraditional occupations. These occupations are providing women with more opportunities and higher salaries compared to traditional occupations.Source:[Tulsa Welding School]

Resistance and Conflict Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Resistance and Conflict Management - Essay Example he institutional environment in an organizational and people who are involved in such conflicts try to degrade the other person or party even if it is at the expense of overall cost of the organization. Conflicts reduce productivity and discourage parties involved as their performance level cannot be at the optimal (Katz, and Kahn, 1966). Leaders tend to avoid conflicts that occur in the organization and do not pay much attention to the conflicts (Montana, 2008). However, in avoidance strategy leaders separate the parties involved in the conflict or limit their interaction. Avoiding conflicts might lead them into bigger issues later on therefore it is important to resolve such conflicts at an early stage. At times, leaders or top management of the organization imposes their own decision on the parties involved in the conflict by making use of their power (Montana, 2008).. Such decisions might discourage even both the parties involved in the conflict. Though, such decisions might be in the favour of parties that enjoy dominancy or which is more favourable for the leader or decision maker. It is also one of the strategies used by leaders to resolve organizational conflict in which a resolution which might satisfies at least some part of every party involved in the conflict and therefore every party compromises on something and gains something. So, everyone would be satisfied eventually. In this strategy leaders tend to come up with a resolution with the help of discussions which is in the best interest of one of the groups involved in the conflict but this resolution might be at the cost of other parties involved. The problem with such strategy is that the dominant group might enjoy and would be able to make the decision go in his favour thus the best possible decision for the long term success of the organization might not be taken. As a leader, it is important to first analyze the situation and then take decision however considering the pros and cons of the

Celebrity Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Celebrity Study - Essay Example Celebrities are characterised by fame, influence and in some cases financial success (Weber, 2014: 100). Inspiration personalities have huge audiences and it is the strategic reason businesses that seek to promote their brands have in the recent past involved them in advertisements. People understandably pay much attention on what celebrities do both fans and haters. As a matter of fact, music, from time immemorial, has been an essential part of human life. Artists who consistently produced high-quality music that attracted a wide audience in the society have gone down in history not only as celebrities but as ‘stars’ and legends. Evidently, Michael Jackson was a music legend whose life was a blessing to many people. This paper seeks to evaluate Michael Jackson as a celebrity and as a case study and comprehensively explore various social elements with regard to his life and contributions while counter-comparing this with theoretical frameworks to come up with an argument supported by practical examples. Michael Jackson is a name that most people can recognise, whether young or old. Similarly, both men and women identify MJ as he is popularly known for his exhaustively lived 50 years. He was born in August 1958 and died 50 years later in June, 2009. He is famous for his influence in the pop music and dancing styles that have since been embraced. Michael Jackson climbed to become an international figure due to his dedicated work in the music industry. He had an enormous contribution in the arena of music and dance that made the world recognise him sincerely. Apparently, Jackson was born in a family that had a thing with music as he had several siblings sing along with him in what was known as Jackson 5. He did his career music in the year 1964 and about four decades late, the name Michael Jackson was known in every cranny of the society. He became an epitome of pop music. Even after his death, he

Origin of Conflict Amongst the US and Iraq Essay

Origin of Conflict Amongst the US and Iraq - Essay Example 10). ISLAM Islam originates from Saudi Arabia and is perceived as successor religion to Christianity; since it clinches a mass of Christian and Jewish beliefs, while at the same time building on several beliefs. These religions belief in prophets of God like Abraham and Jesus being bearers of new messages that change in beliefs, although only Muslims belief in Muhammad as being the last prophet; a belief that is not embraced by other religions (Keegan 2004, p. 35). Islam developed gradually, especially in the fifteenth century all over the world, especially in the Middle East, Africa and some European countries. This tremendous range of Islam was ruled by leaders, caliphs, who assembled religion and civic governance. This association goes against the American belief of proper governance, which implies that religion and government are obviously differing social activities and that the government is restricted from showing support to any particular religion. The Islamic empire grew dra stically which led to different sections of the Islamic empire started breaking into conflicting splinter groups as a result of increased wealth, as well as a variety of interests and customs. The central part of the Islamic empire that is situated in parts of Turkey, Iran and Iraq, transversed by international travel roads from and to China, India and other parts of the Orient (Cashman 2007, p. 48). As anticipated, conflict occurred given that the Middle East, which is currently referred to as Israel, was the place where Christianity, Islam and Judaism originated. As a result, there were military endeavors referred to as Crusades, in an attempt to recapture the Christian Holy Land from Muslims, which created a block of hostility, antagonism, threat and fear amongst the Islamic East and Christian West. Apart from that, succession to Islam’s leadership was the first cause of conflict amongst Muslims; with the main split amongst Sunnis and Shiites, as to who was the genuine suc cessor of Muhammad (Hess 2009, p.76). TRADE ROUTES During the Industrial Revolution, the West developed gradually especially in wealth, physical resources, competence as skills, as well as military experience and power, unlike the Islamic territories. As a result, the West secured more colonial empires by being hostile to countries that influence its trade routes, which in most cases were Islamic. They did this by taking control of countries, or part of countries, and imposing on them rules that were disadvantageous and humiliating to Islamic people and their countries, while, on the other hand, those rules were advantageous to the West (Hiro 2009, p.100) While bringing change, both the British and French were mainly concerned with the short term gains they would achieve by splitting the empire into independent nations, rather than the long term growth of these regions. The British established and implemented their desired government in a place that is currently Iraq, which was perc eived as unsatisfactory by the indigenous leading to the rebellion that prolonged for years, giving rise to the rise of Baath Party that eventually acquired control of Iraq, as well as the rise of Saddam Hussein. Apart from that, this place, which is currently Israel, was set up in a manner that gave British control over the area, and this meant long term suffering in Palestine.

Steve Jobs Biography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Steve Jobs Biography - Essay Example Steve Jobs was one of those people who made an impact on the entire world and is being remembered even after he has left this world. Early years: Steve Jobs was born in February 1955 in San Francisco, California. His childhood wasn’t the smoothest of all and was adopted and also had difficulties in school times. Even in college days he could not complete the degree and dropped out shortly. Steve was adopted in his early age and he came to know about this fact later in his life many years down the lane (Gillam, pg 15). Steve jobs stayed in touch with physics and literature during his earlier years of education, yet he was struggling to find a path and direction. Jobs rather found interest in the electronics which he practiced with at his garage in childhood. However, things took a turn for the good when he first joined Atari and then Hewlett Packard where he came across a man named Steve Wonzniak who would become his partner in innovation and success journey in years to come. S teve Wonzniak was an engineer by profession. Early success: In contrast to the conventional subjects of education, Steve Jobs found his interest in the subject of creativity and it was more suited towards his natural abilities. By 1974 he had attached himself to the gaming console Atari and worked as a game designer. Steve Jobs got the chance to express his ideas to the right kind of person who could foresee innovations in his idea. Together they both worked on Blue Box device. It was a stepping stone towards many more innovations to come. Together they started thinking of an idea of establishing a desktop computer, and hence this set foundation for Apple Inc (Gillam, pg 36). This feat was achieved in 1976. With no investment at hand and no majors support, they had to carry out their work in the local garage , it is believed that both sacrificed their valuables for this cause and Jobs sold out his V.W mini bus while his comrade had to sacrifice his dear electronic calculator in orde r to make the project a reality . They can easily be termed as the pioneers for introducing a relatively small sized computers since earlier computers were largely mainframes and had no major computational strengths and ability at that time .A few hundred dollars venture that had started from the garage started earning them millions of in no time and by 1980 Apple Inc was a billion dollar company in reserves, all to the duo who through their innovation introduced new dimensions. They introduced two different models Apple 1 and after seeing its success they introduced Apple II, with considerable improvements. By this time Apple Inc and its computers had made to the market and it was the buzzword everywhere. Rough times at Apple Inc: The beginning of 1980s saw some rough times for Apple and it faced challenges from its competitors technically who ultimately surpassed the incumbent company. Apple had a threat in form of IBM’s introduced computer. This was the time when first Gra phic User Interface ( G.U.I) based computers were first introduced in the market .Not everything was smooth and there were bumps in his journey at Apple, after a few great years at the company, things got sour and the downfall of Apple Inc was blamed on Steve Jobs which resulted in his resignation in 1985.The company suffered from the loss of the visionary man and staleness was observed

Challenges to Managing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)

Challenges to Managing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) One of the major challenges facing Human Resource Management is the introduction and management of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). In dyads or tryads produce a group briefing paper for either; Directors of a company or a specific trade union, of your choice, regarding the changes taking place in the UK labourmarket and economy regarding the impact of outsourcing and/or offshoring. INTRODUCTION The current economic climate is forcing organizations to explore tactics to remain competitive. According to the traditional ‘make or buy decision framework, the fundamental value proposition behind BPO is cost reduction. The recent economic downturn forced HR departments to do more with less. Many HR organisations were asked to increase the scope of their capabilities without increasing overall headcount. As a result, some organisations viewed outsourcing as a way of combating current economic situation and achieving competitive advantage. In spite of the recent economic slowdown, Gartner Group stated that, the worldwide business process outsourcing (BPO) market, is continuing to grow by approximately 9.5. Organisations are increasingly seeking standardization as part of a re-emphasis on strategic business initiatives. They realise that they need to standardize HR processes and policies as a first step in their HR transformation. Business process outsourcing of certain functions is becoming an increasingly popular way to improve basic services while allowing HR professionals time to focus on issues vital to the businesss strategic initiatives, instead of being burdened with HR administration. Chaffey (2003) defines BPO as â€Å"the contracting out of specified services to a third party with a controlled, flexible relationship†. Lee (2002) refers to BPO as the ‘outsourcing of different managerial and operational functions. Specifically in HR, BPO is designed to ensure that a companys HR system is supported by the latest management information systems, with self-access and HR data warehousing options. The Business Issues (1995) further views BPO as ‘the delegation of one or more business processes to an external provider, who then owns, manages and administers the selected processes based on defined and measurable performance metric. The CIPD defines off-shore as ‘the process of outsourcing business activities or services overseas, as a direct or indirect employer. Off-shore does not always involve the services of an external provider . According to the Oxford Dictionary it means: ‘made, registered or situated abroad. The concept of outsourcing centres on David Ricardos theory of Comparative Advantage (cited in Mullins 2001) which states that even if a country could produce everything more efficiently than another country, it would still reap gains from specialising in what it was best at producing and trading with other nations. AIM OF BRIEFING The aim of this briefing is to brief the Directors of Name of our company the effect of outsourcing the HRM function and will encompass its influence on organisational performance and culture; and concurrently its impact on the UK Labour market and economy. The team will carry out a case-study on BT and will critically evaluate, analyse and highlight the advantages and disadvantages of HR outsourcing with the intention of reviewing the outcomes and where necessary suggest solutions where likely problems can be encountered. An analytical review will be carried out of the major HRM problems which can arise from organizational change and where required recommendations made. The team will use British Telecommunications as a case study to establish the impact of BPO. This briefing aims to provide a reasoned critique of existing literature based on surveys, textbooks, journals and official trade data. BACKGROUND British Telecommunications (BT) is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT Group Plc, a public limited company registered in England and Wales and listed on the London and New York Stock Exchanges . BT is one of the worlds leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in 170 countries. It principal activities include networked IT services, local, national and international telecommunications services, and higher-value broadband and internet products and services.Its main activities are web hosting, IT solutions, Internet services, telecommunications and broadband networks. In the fiscal year ended 31 March 2007 BT had a net turnover of  £9,499 billion. In the UK alone it has pool of 87,000 employees and 180,000 pensioners, whilst on a global scale it has 10,000 employees spread over the countries it operates within. For years, British Telecom ruled the UK market as a monopoly. It was the British Telecommunications Act of 1981 that brought this to an end and put in its place a duopoly, where BT competed with Mercury. The company was formed in 1981 as a subsidiary of Cable Wireless, mainly to challenge the monopoly of British Telecom. The privatisation of British Telecom in 1984 opened the industry to full competition and in 1991, this effectively brought the duopoly share by BT and Mercury to an end. With the liberalisation and opening up of the phone market to global competition came renewed pressure on BT from the telecoms watchdog Oftel to open up more of its network to competitors and cut its prices. The pressures on BT became greater than ever. The stiff competition in the telecoms market, the huge cost of paying for third-generation (3G) mobile phone licences, pressure from the industry regulator Oftel to lower its prices and informed, discerning customers meant BT had to deliver even higher levels of quality and service, at competitive prices in order to stay afloat. All these pressures necessitated mindset change and BT was forced to review its business processes. In order to meet up with the arrival of new competitors and the quickening pace of technological change in the industry, speed of action and reaction became critical success factors. With the competition that flooded the UK market in the 1990s, BT started considering cost reduction that will maximise efficiency without compromising quality. One of the major steps taken was to outsource the transactional side of its human resources operation to Accenture HR Services, which in turn off-shored to its India branch. BT believed that the competitive edge for any global communications provider is human capital and to survive and thrive, it requires world-class human resource (HR) competencies and the processes for managing them. Youndt et al. (1996) highlights that a HR system focused on human capabilities is directly related to multiple dimensions of operational performance. Huselid and Becker (1997) describe that a firms effectiveness is associated with HR capabilities and its attributes. ADVANTAGES OF OUTSOURCING / OFFSHORING Outsourcing enables an organisation to improve its focus on its core values allowing it to remain competitive on the market (Morello, 2003) . Prahalad and Hamel 1990 state that firms must concentrate on core competencies to gain competitive advantage. Through outsourcing specialist skills can be drawn out from a pool of expertise when and where needed whilst opportunities for enriched career development exist for the remaining staff. Organisations are able to turn over certain classes of risks to their suppliers, such as demand variability and capital investments. Unlike the buyer, the outsourcing buyer can spread these risks over multiple clients. Profitability can be achieved as outsourcing increases a businesss cashflow by creating cost reductions through cheap labour and reduced operational expenses i.e. office space, utility. Funds which would have been used for large capital investments can be released for other uses. Contracting out operational functions reduces the competition on capital as the outsourcing company provides the capital investment as part of its overheads. Companies can create an integrated market as it is a cost effective way of globalisation particularly when it selects the best available resources and labour. Figure [rumbi insert appendix] reflects the changes to operational costs which BT experienced when it outsourced. According to Som Mittal, former Managing Director of Compaq India has claimed that payroll processing to countries like India companies can achieve a 20-25% gain in productivity. Outsourcing can increase the service level given to clients. With offshoring an organisation has the ability to have a 24-hour a day workforce resulting in a more timely service which would not be possible if the organisation operated in once country. BT gained flexibility through outsourcing to Accenture as agility or quick response to business demands was made. Competitive advantage can be attained through cheaper prices. When the product prices cannot come down further operating in a highly skilled, low-wage labour area will be advantageous. (Frubel, Heinrichs and Kreye 1980) . As the product price falls consumers are willing to demand a larger amount of goods. The off-shored countries receive economical benefits. Nasscom Chairman Som Mittal remarked ‘Its a win win situation for countries which allow outsourcing and the countries which receive outsourcing (Ahmed 2004) . DISADVANTAGES OF OUTSOURCING/OFFSHORING: When outsourcing to a third party resentment can occur between permanent and contracted staff. Contract/temporary staff may fail to have a sense of belonging whilst permanent staff can remain aloof in order to protect their works hindering teamwork. Offshoring particularly on the outsourcing of work to India as the UK labour force believes that they are losing out on career opportunities. However the McKinsey Global Institute Report states that there are actually too many jobs and not enough people in the UK to fulfil them. Therefore fears of a widespread unemployment are unlikely and thus this resentment could be seen as unnecessary (Lander 2006) . The lack of direct communication between the organisation and the client can hinder the development of solid relationships and can result in the main organisation lacking control of the outsourced project. One of the key aspects of motivation is social interaction and self actualisation (Maslow cited in Mullins, 2001). Another perceived drawback of off-shoring is the decrease in levels of communication. When English is not the native language of the source area, poor command of the English Language leads to prominent resentment of offshored services (Ahmed,2004). Results of a survey carried out by the Nationwide building in 2005 reflected that 91% of UK adults would prefer their calls to be handled by UK-based call centres (Lander (2006). A major drawback is the expense of regaining a customer once lost, because it could cost up to 6 times more in marketing costs to gain a replacement. Cultural differences can be a disadvantage of offshoring i.e. Ryan Kinzy of K3 Group a large outsourcing company states that there are 3 months which are viewed as the most auspicious time for weddings in India, for example half the staff are out of the office. Ryan highlights that building up teamwork is a difficult challenge as employees may lack intuition due to their culture, Indian workers require a lot of direction. Their relationships are hierarchal, family and caste dependent and they have an educational system that emphasises routine learning over independent research. Outsourcing can prove expensive as payment of redundancy packages for the laid off staff can be a major drawback. As the number of companies offshoring to India rises, employee retention becomes a challenge due to the fact that as market competition increases, salaries are required to be competitive. Organisations will have to decide whether the cost-savings outweigh the revenue generated. Risks can be encountered due to the socio-economic conditions which can hinder the progression of operations i.e. maintaining trade risks. The chance of off-shore fraud also exist as the use of funds can be diverted. There is also the risk or data loss. BT faces the risk of fraud emanating from HR outsourcing as off-shore workers have full access to personnel details ranging from bank account numbers, home addresses and other personal details. Non-automated transactions and processing responsibilities enable off-shore workers to have access to highly confidential information. There is an increase in foreign organised crime groups who have targeted foreign off-shore enterprises to gain access data which they process. Organisiations can face compliance risks and their reputation being damaged due to negative publicity resulting from the third party being inconsistent in meeting ethical standards and internal policies. The organisation needs to carryout thorough audits to ensure control . Expertise levels need to be measured to ensure that required service levels of service are met. {Figure xxRumbi to appendix 2} reflects results of problems faced by several companies which have off-shored. The main problem met appears to be low control of performance and data. Offshoring has the limited disadvantage in that the core function of an organisation cannot be accomplished if passed onto an external source . A business which outsources a department still requires in-house technical experts to monitor activities (Greco 1997) Political infrastructure such as changes in government can affect can impact the outsourcing company. Shortly after the election of Sonia Ghandi stock markets plummeted on fears that her leftist allies would roll back fundamental economic reforms. Erratic power grids inexperienced officials and unmotivated employees can also prove to be a disadvantage. ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE BTs management believes organisational culture is innovative with teams that are strategically aligned to BTs operations. Advances in technologies have been applied to benefit BT and its customers to improve processes. Culture can be an object which is manipulated to achieve productivity and organisational improvements, and change over time (Tran, 2008) . In this context, culture is the character of an organisation. However if culture is accepted as being â€Å"†¦.the basic, taken- for- granted assumptions and deep patterns of meaning shared by organisational participation and manifestations of these assumptions†¦Ã¢â‚¬  ( Johnson, 2007) then in this respect culture can be difficult to change. In order to explain the content of cultural context in BT after HR outsourcing, the cultural web will be used. The table below shows the content of the organisational culture with HR outsourcing. Rumbi to appendix 1] According to the above table the organisational culture hinders collective learning in the organisation. Individuals see each other as rivals, rather than a partners. This paradigm creates various obstacles for learning within the organisation, that usually arise due to rivalry, power conflicts and absence of network communication channels (Mullins, 2001). The disadvantage of this power structure is explained by Mullins (2001) who claims that such approach decrease the effectiveness and efficiency of operations management, as participants are detached from the decision-making. BTs new organisational structure is bureaucratic, with the emphasis on standard procedures and operational routines. It might slow down the communication process, with the absence of feedback channels and unnecessary layers that might increase obstructions and cause various distortions in the communication process( Graham Bennet, 1998) . BT has placed its employees after revenues. The management has failed to take into account individual needs of each employee hence developing a coercive rather than participative approach. Within this approach people are being treated as liabilities rather than the core elements of the operations management process, where people become the primary determinant of the outcome quality (Armstrong, 2003) . The organisational culture implies for traditional type of performance appraisal system, which utilises various types of monetary techniques. Wright (2007) argued that the utilisation of monetary tools does not provide the development of a higher level of effective commitment or higher degree of intrinsic motivation and provides a blurred understanding of the relationship between their performance and corresponding appraisal. The communication component forms an important of the above mentioned changes. According to McGregor (1960, cited in Mullins, 2001) in order to get people to direct their efforts towards organisational objectives, management must tell them what to do, judge how well they are doing and reward or punish accordingly. There is also an informative and a motivational purpose. He claims that a clear and thorough description of individual duties and rights within the framework of the organisation may prevent the rise of unmet expectations. As it shows on the table, the communication in the company is of a top-down nature, without proper feedback. This type of communication scheme is good for conveyer-type organisations and not ideal for innovative market-led companies. CHANGE MANAGEMENT The new requirements for adaptation made it necessary for the company to undertake the reengineering of the whole business process, including both â€Å"hard â€Å"and â€Å"soft† elements. According to Senior (1997) â€Å"hard system† change implies â€Å" an attempt to use the benefits of a scientific method whilst recognising that in the real world of business where thing are happening fast, there may not be time to be as scientific as one would like†. In BTs case, â€Å"hard system† change referred to the introduction of new operations management systems, equipment and business facilities, designed to speed up existing operations and reduce the cost per a single transaction. It was designed to maximise the efficiency of every single operation within the business process. Senior (1997) indicates that â€Å"Soft System† changes imply for the change of the organisational culture. The main idea of this approach is listening to the organisation, good communication, developing a shared, vision, gaining real commitment to the change and the vision, education and training, and understanding the tools and techniques for the process. William et al.(1993) indicates that to facilitate effective adaptation of the employees to new working conditions, managers shall reduce restraining forces and reinforces driving forces. However, it shall be considered, that not all measures are equally effective. As Hetzbergs maintainance theory ( cited in Mullins, 2001) shows , the presence of certain factors may act as a powerful motivating factors, while the absence of other elements may produce slight dissatisfaction. At the same time strategic priorities shall reflect the current organisational aims. Under such conditions in order to improve the situation and meet objectives (create a better customer focus) the high involvement of senior managers, who acts as a link between operational and business levels of the organisation, is required. Senior managers shall act as major change agents. Taking the role of change agents, it is important for senior managers not to ignore employees natural resistance to new systems, but to create appropriate incentives to fasten the transactional process from resistance to commitment (Graham and Bennet, 1998). The ignorance of or resistance to changes will introduce different open conflicts, which will significantly worsen the organisation environment affecting its performance level and flexibility. This could result to failure to raise performance and attract or retain customers, which may lead to significant costs and even reduce the companys chances to survive and succeed in changing market conditions. According to Mintzberg Quinn and Ghoshall (1995) the overall rationale for any outsourcing activity is that outsourcing provides, greater economies of scale, flexibility, increase in levels of expertise, cost effectiveness, reduced costs and added value to any organisation. The rationale of BT outsourcing its HRM functions were to increase shareholder value, sustain progress and cope with the pace of change. Outsourcing of parts of the HR function has become more common. Lonsdale and Cox (1998) argue that outsourcing decisions can be classified under the following three headings: 1 outsourcing for short-term cost and headcount reductions; 2 core-competence-based outsourcing, where peripheral activities are passed to third parties and core activities are retained in-house; 3 iterative and entrepreneurial outsourcing, where periodic reviews of critical market activities are undertaken, with subsequent decision to retain or outsource. IMPACT ON UK LABOUR FORCE Human capital is emphasized as the most valuable asset of the 21st century business. The primary effects of outsourcing/offshoring on HR and Labour Relations are related to managing transition in HRM such as personnel changes, managing layoff, downsizing issues, and the costs/dynamics of actually managing an off-shore contract. The laying off of UK employees as a result of restructuring to effect the outsourcing contracts can have a negative impact on employees. Layoffs cause major morale problems among in-house ‘survivors and may lead to dissatisfaction and reduced delivery speed. Some UK companies experienced productivity dips and potential legal action from laid off employees resulting in costs of severance, retention bonuses and retraining being encountered. According to a survey by Deloitte and YouGov (2006) revealed that fear of job losses was prevalent in the UK with 82% of public perceiving offshoring as a threat . 1 in 3 people stated that UK companies should be forced to bring back jobs to the UK. Chief economist of the Work Foundation, Ian Brinkley commented ‘Fears have been stoked by claims that the Chinese and Indians are coming to get your lunch to describe the insecurity that offshoring has caused. With regards to knowledge transfer there is concern that some of the job experience is being exported. If low-level skill tasks are sent off-shore then so is the experience gained from performing those tasks. When the time comes to perform higher-level tasks where previous experience is mandatory, there is no alternative than to go off-shore because that is where the experience will available. In some instances company plans imply that higher-level tasks will remain performed on-shore, the lower-level tasks are performed miles away. The knowledge and experience of those ‘low-level jobs will be gone forever, and may impact the proper development of the ‘higher-level jobs. Forrester a US research group released a study that by 2015 Europe will have lost a collective number of 1.2 million jobs to off-shore locations increasing its reliance. Alan Blinder a US economist and former advisor to Bill Clinton has supported this thesis by stating that offshoring will lead to a ‘third Industrial Revolution. He views that off-shore is now a man-made comparative advantage and that workers will be forced to seek employment in personal services which remain non-tradable. There is a long-term impact on the types of jobs that people are training for, as well as the ‘transfer of knowledge relating to many job structures in the workplace such that there is a ‘domino effect. Steve Loy feels that these ‘outgoing tide of jobs could threaten fundamental technology research as well as jobs. The astute students will recognise the rapidly dwindling job opportunities in HRM and will choose other programs of study thus loss will be encountered in HR leading to a labour-force that has inadequate HRM knowledge to compete in a high knowledge based economy. The evaluation of the impact of off-shore is mainly based on estimations of collective data. Jobs most at risk are non-client facing and low knowledge content jobs those which use a lot of Information technology, creating outputs that can be transmitted via IT. An analysis by the CPRP concluded that 20% of non-client facing jobs are likely to be moved abroad. The potential is apportioned as a function of international trade and investment, the industrial structure of the economy, human capital, employment indicator, product market regulations indicator. Not all jobs created off-shore by UK companies automatically translates to job losses in the UK labour market. Employees are increasingly demanding services hence time difference plays a role in off-shore, offering them extended services. The lower price makes it possible for instance to offer services which would not be available otherwise i.e. 24 hr call centres. The information collated by the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) s hows that job loss due to offshoring is in fact very small. During the first quarter of 2007 ERM recorded 420 restructuring cases in Europe. They announced 137,762 job losses and 184,511 job gains. Only 5.5% of all jobs lost were due to offshoring activities. For the year 2005 the percentage of job losses due to offshoring was only 3.4% of the total job losses. To measure the extent of job loss due to restructuring we can use redundancy notification, the effects of offshoring does however vary with the country. In France, national Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies estimates in its 2007 report on the French economy that offshoring has been responsible for the destruction of 15,000 jobs per year between 2000 and 2003. This is to contrast with a job creation in the private sector of 200,000 per year . In the UK there is no significant decline as per the results of the LFS Redundancy Tables ‘Employment growth in the occupations considered susceptible to offshoring has been very strong. The redundancy levels for these occupations, although high relative to the whole economy, have been falling in the last four years. The overall employment rate for these occupations has also shown an increase showing the cost of moving low-skilled jobs abroad is either falling or positive job creation is highly prevalent in the IT enabled occup ations. This does not mean that jobs are not being off-shored, and it is entirely possible that in the absence of offshoring, employment in these areas might have been higher. The adverse impact is entirely triggered by much larger changes in domestic demand for such services, the UK in particular has been extremely successful in developing as a world leader in knowledge based international trade. Jobs created through the expansion of exports of services are likely to outweigh the contraction of jobs caused by import of services. According to a report by Amiti and Jin Wei (2005) job growth at divisional levels has not been negatively related to service outsourcing but has had a negative impact on the demand for unskilled labour. In the UK outsourcing has had no reflected effect on the labourforce. The Deloitte and Recruitment Employment Confederation Report states that both permanent and temporary staff billings continue to rise. National press recruitment advertising in the UK went down by 11.3% in July 2005 in both public and private sectors reflecting a positive direction in the labour market and no relevant changes in the economy. Outsourcing is increasing consultancy work in the United Kingdom hence is beneficial as it offers flexible working hours / days for UK employees. This is particularly favorable for women who are raising children as is allows them to earn a salary whilst at the same time having adequate time with their children. There is also the flexibility of home-working. Structural changes can occur in the economies of both the outsourced/sourcing companies and due to the debate on who is benefiting/losing racism can be allowed to rear its head. A report prepared for the Department of Trade Industry by Ovum (2006) concludes that even though the actual impacts of an increase in trade and the expansion of global sourcing have been quite modest to date, offshoring can change the skills structure of labour demand, increasing the vulnerability of low-skilled workers in particular. ECONOMIC IMPACT Concern over off-shoring has become a surrogate for wider issues about economic insecurity, said Work Foundation chief economist Ian Brinkley. An interesting corollary benefit of outsourcing is the benefit to the economy. Indias National Association of Software and Services Companies commissioned a report by Evaluserve that stated that for every $100 worth of work sent abroad by US companies, $130 to $145 will be reinvested in the US economy. Cost savings are said to create value in the UK economy. Ahead of monetary capital, knowledge economy has become a focal point in the policy of outsourcing and off-shore. Strategies have been devised i.e. the Lisbon Strategy centres to promote, research, innovation in the development of human capital. In the future, human capital is the only way that Europe can remain prosperous. The main beneficiaries in the UK are the educated high skilled workers and the losers will be semi/low skilled workers. The UK government needs to investment more in education to continue pushing towards a leading knowledge based economy to avoid vulnerability. It needs to investment in human capital and focus on domestic policy choices for the losers of rapid structural changes within the UK. As a result of off-shoring the UK government is losing funds which could possibly be raised by corporate and income tax. However, it has stated that it does not have plans in place as yet to prevent outsourcing. The Department of Trade Industry has stated ‘it is a commercial decision for companies to decide where to locate their business operations such as call centres. The absence of official statistics on off-shore outsourcing leads to speculation and there is also misinterpretation of indirect measures/evidence. The experience of an individual company may or may not select a trend in a specific sector but does not allow conclusions to be made on the economy as a whole. It is possible that the rise in rice prices caused by lower production could be a result of a shift by the working population in India from working in the agriculture moving to the services sector. A great deal of knowledge is tacit and therefore difficult to transfer. Its reproduction can be extremely costly and requires an environment in which it can be harnessed effectively. According to a recent World Bank publication India is at the bottom end ranking 98 out of 128 countries of an index that measures the ability to create, absorb and diffuse knowledge therefore its threat is minimal to the UK economy. The economy-wide measures such as a countrys balance of payments can assist us in understanding the patterns of cross border trade and establish the impact of offshoring. If the outsourcing of tasks by UK based companies to off-shore locations i.e. India is soaring then the UK should be importing more of these services from India. The CBI has stated that the UK companies have benefited from off-shore as they are now receiving improved work-force skills at a low rate making their enterprises more profitable. According to results obtained from the Office for National Statistics the redundancy rate for the three months to January 2008 was 4.4 per 1,000 employees, down 0.9 over the quarter and down 1.1 over the year. These figures on the redundancy rate reflect that though a large number of organizational services have been off-shored services this has not had a significant impact on the UK economy. The UK has emerged as a world leader in ‘knowledge services and between 1995 2005 exports of its services grew by over 100% compared to its exports of traditional service exports such as transport. India is ranked 6th for global ‘insourcing behind the US, UK, German France and the Netherlands who appear to be the top rec Challenges to Managing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Challenges to Managing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) One of the major challenges facing Human Resource Management is the introduction and management of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). In dyads or tryads produce a group briefing paper for either; Directors of a company or a specific trade union, of your choice, regarding the changes taking place in the UK labourmarket and economy regarding the impact of outsourcing and/or offshoring. INTRODUCTION The current economic climate is forcing organizations to explore tactics to remain competitive. According to the traditional ‘make or buy decision framework, the fundamental value proposition behind BPO is cost reduction. The recent economic downturn forced HR departments to do more with less. Many HR organisations were asked to increase the scope of their capabilities without increasing overall headcount. As a result, some organisations viewed outsourcing as a way of combating current economic situation and achieving competitive advantage. In spite of the recent economic slowdown, Gartner Group stated that, the worldwide business process outsourcing (BPO) market, is continuing to grow by approximately 9.5. Organisations are increasingly seeking standardization as part of a re-emphasis on strategic business initiatives. They realise that they need to standardize HR processes and policies as a first step in their HR transformation. Business process outsourcing of certain functions is becoming an increasingly popular way to improve basic services while allowing HR professionals time to focus on issues vital to the businesss strategic initiatives, instead of being burdened with HR administration. Chaffey (2003) defines BPO as â€Å"the contracting out of specified services to a third party with a controlled, flexible relationship†. Lee (2002) refers to BPO as the ‘outsourcing of different managerial and operational functions. Specifically in HR, BPO is designed to ensure that a companys HR system is supported by the latest management information systems, with self-access and HR data warehousing options. The Business Issues (1995) further views BPO as ‘the delegation of one or more business processes to an external provider, who then owns, manages and administers the selected processes based on defined and measurable performance metric. The CIPD defines off-shore as ‘the process of outsourcing business activities or services overseas, as a direct or indirect employer. Off-shore does not always involve the services of an external provider . According to the Oxford Dictionary it means: ‘made, registered or situated abroad. The concept of outsourcing centres on David Ricardos theory of Comparative Advantage (cited in Mullins 2001) which states that even if a country could produce everything more efficiently than another country, it would still reap gains from specialising in what it was best at producing and trading with other nations. AIM OF BRIEFING The aim of this briefing is to brief the Directors of Name of our company the effect of outsourcing the HRM function and will encompass its influence on organisational performance and culture; and concurrently its impact on the UK Labour market and economy. The team will carry out a case-study on BT and will critically evaluate, analyse and highlight the advantages and disadvantages of HR outsourcing with the intention of reviewing the outcomes and where necessary suggest solutions where likely problems can be encountered. An analytical review will be carried out of the major HRM problems which can arise from organizational change and where required recommendations made. The team will use British Telecommunications as a case study to establish the impact of BPO. This briefing aims to provide a reasoned critique of existing literature based on surveys, textbooks, journals and official trade data. BACKGROUND British Telecommunications (BT) is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT Group Plc, a public limited company registered in England and Wales and listed on the London and New York Stock Exchanges . BT is one of the worlds leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in 170 countries. It principal activities include networked IT services, local, national and international telecommunications services, and higher-value broadband and internet products and services.Its main activities are web hosting, IT solutions, Internet services, telecommunications and broadband networks. In the fiscal year ended 31 March 2007 BT had a net turnover of  £9,499 billion. In the UK alone it has pool of 87,000 employees and 180,000 pensioners, whilst on a global scale it has 10,000 employees spread over the countries it operates within. For years, British Telecom ruled the UK market as a monopoly. It was the British Telecommunications Act of 1981 that brought this to an end and put in its place a duopoly, where BT competed with Mercury. The company was formed in 1981 as a subsidiary of Cable Wireless, mainly to challenge the monopoly of British Telecom. The privatisation of British Telecom in 1984 opened the industry to full competition and in 1991, this effectively brought the duopoly share by BT and Mercury to an end. With the liberalisation and opening up of the phone market to global competition came renewed pressure on BT from the telecoms watchdog Oftel to open up more of its network to competitors and cut its prices. The pressures on BT became greater than ever. The stiff competition in the telecoms market, the huge cost of paying for third-generation (3G) mobile phone licences, pressure from the industry regulator Oftel to lower its prices and informed, discerning customers meant BT had to deliver even higher levels of quality and service, at competitive prices in order to stay afloat. All these pressures necessitated mindset change and BT was forced to review its business processes. In order to meet up with the arrival of new competitors and the quickening pace of technological change in the industry, speed of action and reaction became critical success factors. With the competition that flooded the UK market in the 1990s, BT started considering cost reduction that will maximise efficiency without compromising quality. One of the major steps taken was to outsource the transactional side of its human resources operation to Accenture HR Services, which in turn off-shored to its India branch. BT believed that the competitive edge for any global communications provider is human capital and to survive and thrive, it requires world-class human resource (HR) competencies and the processes for managing them. Youndt et al. (1996) highlights that a HR system focused on human capabilities is directly related to multiple dimensions of operational performance. Huselid and Becker (1997) describe that a firms effectiveness is associated with HR capabilities and its attributes. ADVANTAGES OF OUTSOURCING / OFFSHORING Outsourcing enables an organisation to improve its focus on its core values allowing it to remain competitive on the market (Morello, 2003) . Prahalad and Hamel 1990 state that firms must concentrate on core competencies to gain competitive advantage. Through outsourcing specialist skills can be drawn out from a pool of expertise when and where needed whilst opportunities for enriched career development exist for the remaining staff. Organisations are able to turn over certain classes of risks to their suppliers, such as demand variability and capital investments. Unlike the buyer, the outsourcing buyer can spread these risks over multiple clients. Profitability can be achieved as outsourcing increases a businesss cashflow by creating cost reductions through cheap labour and reduced operational expenses i.e. office space, utility. Funds which would have been used for large capital investments can be released for other uses. Contracting out operational functions reduces the competition on capital as the outsourcing company provides the capital investment as part of its overheads. Companies can create an integrated market as it is a cost effective way of globalisation particularly when it selects the best available resources and labour. Figure [rumbi insert appendix] reflects the changes to operational costs which BT experienced when it outsourced. According to Som Mittal, former Managing Director of Compaq India has claimed that payroll processing to countries like India companies can achieve a 20-25% gain in productivity. Outsourcing can increase the service level given to clients. With offshoring an organisation has the ability to have a 24-hour a day workforce resulting in a more timely service which would not be possible if the organisation operated in once country. BT gained flexibility through outsourcing to Accenture as agility or quick response to business demands was made. Competitive advantage can be attained through cheaper prices. When the product prices cannot come down further operating in a highly skilled, low-wage labour area will be advantageous. (Frubel, Heinrichs and Kreye 1980) . As the product price falls consumers are willing to demand a larger amount of goods. The off-shored countries receive economical benefits. Nasscom Chairman Som Mittal remarked ‘Its a win win situation for countries which allow outsourcing and the countries which receive outsourcing (Ahmed 2004) . DISADVANTAGES OF OUTSOURCING/OFFSHORING: When outsourcing to a third party resentment can occur between permanent and contracted staff. Contract/temporary staff may fail to have a sense of belonging whilst permanent staff can remain aloof in order to protect their works hindering teamwork. Offshoring particularly on the outsourcing of work to India as the UK labour force believes that they are losing out on career opportunities. However the McKinsey Global Institute Report states that there are actually too many jobs and not enough people in the UK to fulfil them. Therefore fears of a widespread unemployment are unlikely and thus this resentment could be seen as unnecessary (Lander 2006) . The lack of direct communication between the organisation and the client can hinder the development of solid relationships and can result in the main organisation lacking control of the outsourced project. One of the key aspects of motivation is social interaction and self actualisation (Maslow cited in Mullins, 2001). Another perceived drawback of off-shoring is the decrease in levels of communication. When English is not the native language of the source area, poor command of the English Language leads to prominent resentment of offshored services (Ahmed,2004). Results of a survey carried out by the Nationwide building in 2005 reflected that 91% of UK adults would prefer their calls to be handled by UK-based call centres (Lander (2006). A major drawback is the expense of regaining a customer once lost, because it could cost up to 6 times more in marketing costs to gain a replacement. Cultural differences can be a disadvantage of offshoring i.e. Ryan Kinzy of K3 Group a large outsourcing company states that there are 3 months which are viewed as the most auspicious time for weddings in India, for example half the staff are out of the office. Ryan highlights that building up teamwork is a difficult challenge as employees may lack intuition due to their culture, Indian workers require a lot of direction. Their relationships are hierarchal, family and caste dependent and they have an educational system that emphasises routine learning over independent research. Outsourcing can prove expensive as payment of redundancy packages for the laid off staff can be a major drawback. As the number of companies offshoring to India rises, employee retention becomes a challenge due to the fact that as market competition increases, salaries are required to be competitive. Organisations will have to decide whether the cost-savings outweigh the revenue generated. Risks can be encountered due to the socio-economic conditions which can hinder the progression of operations i.e. maintaining trade risks. The chance of off-shore fraud also exist as the use of funds can be diverted. There is also the risk or data loss. BT faces the risk of fraud emanating from HR outsourcing as off-shore workers have full access to personnel details ranging from bank account numbers, home addresses and other personal details. Non-automated transactions and processing responsibilities enable off-shore workers to have access to highly confidential information. There is an increase in foreign organised crime groups who have targeted foreign off-shore enterprises to gain access data which they process. Organisiations can face compliance risks and their reputation being damaged due to negative publicity resulting from the third party being inconsistent in meeting ethical standards and internal policies. The organisation needs to carryout thorough audits to ensure control . Expertise levels need to be measured to ensure that required service levels of service are met. {Figure xxRumbi to appendix 2} reflects results of problems faced by several companies which have off-shored. The main problem met appears to be low control of performance and data. Offshoring has the limited disadvantage in that the core function of an organisation cannot be accomplished if passed onto an external source . A business which outsources a department still requires in-house technical experts to monitor activities (Greco 1997) Political infrastructure such as changes in government can affect can impact the outsourcing company. Shortly after the election of Sonia Ghandi stock markets plummeted on fears that her leftist allies would roll back fundamental economic reforms. Erratic power grids inexperienced officials and unmotivated employees can also prove to be a disadvantage. ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE BTs management believes organisational culture is innovative with teams that are strategically aligned to BTs operations. Advances in technologies have been applied to benefit BT and its customers to improve processes. Culture can be an object which is manipulated to achieve productivity and organisational improvements, and change over time (Tran, 2008) . In this context, culture is the character of an organisation. However if culture is accepted as being â€Å"†¦.the basic, taken- for- granted assumptions and deep patterns of meaning shared by organisational participation and manifestations of these assumptions†¦Ã¢â‚¬  ( Johnson, 2007) then in this respect culture can be difficult to change. In order to explain the content of cultural context in BT after HR outsourcing, the cultural web will be used. The table below shows the content of the organisational culture with HR outsourcing. Rumbi to appendix 1] According to the above table the organisational culture hinders collective learning in the organisation. Individuals see each other as rivals, rather than a partners. This paradigm creates various obstacles for learning within the organisation, that usually arise due to rivalry, power conflicts and absence of network communication channels (Mullins, 2001). The disadvantage of this power structure is explained by Mullins (2001) who claims that such approach decrease the effectiveness and efficiency of operations management, as participants are detached from the decision-making. BTs new organisational structure is bureaucratic, with the emphasis on standard procedures and operational routines. It might slow down the communication process, with the absence of feedback channels and unnecessary layers that might increase obstructions and cause various distortions in the communication process( Graham Bennet, 1998) . BT has placed its employees after revenues. The management has failed to take into account individual needs of each employee hence developing a coercive rather than participative approach. Within this approach people are being treated as liabilities rather than the core elements of the operations management process, where people become the primary determinant of the outcome quality (Armstrong, 2003) . The organisational culture implies for traditional type of performance appraisal system, which utilises various types of monetary techniques. Wright (2007) argued that the utilisation of monetary tools does not provide the development of a higher level of effective commitment or higher degree of intrinsic motivation and provides a blurred understanding of the relationship between their performance and corresponding appraisal. The communication component forms an important of the above mentioned changes. According to McGregor (1960, cited in Mullins, 2001) in order to get people to direct their efforts towards organisational objectives, management must tell them what to do, judge how well they are doing and reward or punish accordingly. There is also an informative and a motivational purpose. He claims that a clear and thorough description of individual duties and rights within the framework of the organisation may prevent the rise of unmet expectations. As it shows on the table, the communication in the company is of a top-down nature, without proper feedback. This type of communication scheme is good for conveyer-type organisations and not ideal for innovative market-led companies. CHANGE MANAGEMENT The new requirements for adaptation made it necessary for the company to undertake the reengineering of the whole business process, including both â€Å"hard â€Å"and â€Å"soft† elements. According to Senior (1997) â€Å"hard system† change implies â€Å" an attempt to use the benefits of a scientific method whilst recognising that in the real world of business where thing are happening fast, there may not be time to be as scientific as one would like†. In BTs case, â€Å"hard system† change referred to the introduction of new operations management systems, equipment and business facilities, designed to speed up existing operations and reduce the cost per a single transaction. It was designed to maximise the efficiency of every single operation within the business process. Senior (1997) indicates that â€Å"Soft System† changes imply for the change of the organisational culture. The main idea of this approach is listening to the organisation, good communication, developing a shared, vision, gaining real commitment to the change and the vision, education and training, and understanding the tools and techniques for the process. William et al.(1993) indicates that to facilitate effective adaptation of the employees to new working conditions, managers shall reduce restraining forces and reinforces driving forces. However, it shall be considered, that not all measures are equally effective. As Hetzbergs maintainance theory ( cited in Mullins, 2001) shows , the presence of certain factors may act as a powerful motivating factors, while the absence of other elements may produce slight dissatisfaction. At the same time strategic priorities shall reflect the current organisational aims. Under such conditions in order to improve the situation and meet objectives (create a better customer focus) the high involvement of senior managers, who acts as a link between operational and business levels of the organisation, is required. Senior managers shall act as major change agents. Taking the role of change agents, it is important for senior managers not to ignore employees natural resistance to new systems, but to create appropriate incentives to fasten the transactional process from resistance to commitment (Graham and Bennet, 1998). The ignorance of or resistance to changes will introduce different open conflicts, which will significantly worsen the organisation environment affecting its performance level and flexibility. This could result to failure to raise performance and attract or retain customers, which may lead to significant costs and even reduce the companys chances to survive and succeed in changing market conditions. According to Mintzberg Quinn and Ghoshall (1995) the overall rationale for any outsourcing activity is that outsourcing provides, greater economies of scale, flexibility, increase in levels of expertise, cost effectiveness, reduced costs and added value to any organisation. The rationale of BT outsourcing its HRM functions were to increase shareholder value, sustain progress and cope with the pace of change. Outsourcing of parts of the HR function has become more common. Lonsdale and Cox (1998) argue that outsourcing decisions can be classified under the following three headings: 1 outsourcing for short-term cost and headcount reductions; 2 core-competence-based outsourcing, where peripheral activities are passed to third parties and core activities are retained in-house; 3 iterative and entrepreneurial outsourcing, where periodic reviews of critical market activities are undertaken, with subsequent decision to retain or outsource. IMPACT ON UK LABOUR FORCE Human capital is emphasized as the most valuable asset of the 21st century business. The primary effects of outsourcing/offshoring on HR and Labour Relations are related to managing transition in HRM such as personnel changes, managing layoff, downsizing issues, and the costs/dynamics of actually managing an off-shore contract. The laying off of UK employees as a result of restructuring to effect the outsourcing contracts can have a negative impact on employees. Layoffs cause major morale problems among in-house ‘survivors and may lead to dissatisfaction and reduced delivery speed. Some UK companies experienced productivity dips and potential legal action from laid off employees resulting in costs of severance, retention bonuses and retraining being encountered. According to a survey by Deloitte and YouGov (2006) revealed that fear of job losses was prevalent in the UK with 82% of public perceiving offshoring as a threat . 1 in 3 people stated that UK companies should be forced to bring back jobs to the UK. Chief economist of the Work Foundation, Ian Brinkley commented ‘Fears have been stoked by claims that the Chinese and Indians are coming to get your lunch to describe the insecurity that offshoring has caused. With regards to knowledge transfer there is concern that some of the job experience is being exported. If low-level skill tasks are sent off-shore then so is the experience gained from performing those tasks. When the time comes to perform higher-level tasks where previous experience is mandatory, there is no alternative than to go off-shore because that is where the experience will available. In some instances company plans imply that higher-level tasks will remain performed on-shore, the lower-level tasks are performed miles away. The knowledge and experience of those ‘low-level jobs will be gone forever, and may impact the proper development of the ‘higher-level jobs. Forrester a US research group released a study that by 2015 Europe will have lost a collective number of 1.2 million jobs to off-shore locations increasing its reliance. Alan Blinder a US economist and former advisor to Bill Clinton has supported this thesis by stating that offshoring will lead to a ‘third Industrial Revolution. He views that off-shore is now a man-made comparative advantage and that workers will be forced to seek employment in personal services which remain non-tradable. There is a long-term impact on the types of jobs that people are training for, as well as the ‘transfer of knowledge relating to many job structures in the workplace such that there is a ‘domino effect. Steve Loy feels that these ‘outgoing tide of jobs could threaten fundamental technology research as well as jobs. The astute students will recognise the rapidly dwindling job opportunities in HRM and will choose other programs of study thus loss will be encountered in HR leading to a labour-force that has inadequate HRM knowledge to compete in a high knowledge based economy. The evaluation of the impact of off-shore is mainly based on estimations of collective data. Jobs most at risk are non-client facing and low knowledge content jobs those which use a lot of Information technology, creating outputs that can be transmitted via IT. An analysis by the CPRP concluded that 20% of non-client facing jobs are likely to be moved abroad. The potential is apportioned as a function of international trade and investment, the industrial structure of the economy, human capital, employment indicator, product market regulations indicator. Not all jobs created off-shore by UK companies automatically translates to job losses in the UK labour market. Employees are increasingly demanding services hence time difference plays a role in off-shore, offering them extended services. The lower price makes it possible for instance to offer services which would not be available otherwise i.e. 24 hr call centres. The information collated by the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) s hows that job loss due to offshoring is in fact very small. During the first quarter of 2007 ERM recorded 420 restructuring cases in Europe. They announced 137,762 job losses and 184,511 job gains. Only 5.5% of all jobs lost were due to offshoring activities. For the year 2005 the percentage of job losses due to offshoring was only 3.4% of the total job losses. To measure the extent of job loss due to restructuring we can use redundancy notification, the effects of offshoring does however vary with the country. In France, national Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies estimates in its 2007 report on the French economy that offshoring has been responsible for the destruction of 15,000 jobs per year between 2000 and 2003. This is to contrast with a job creation in the private sector of 200,000 per year . In the UK there is no significant decline as per the results of the LFS Redundancy Tables ‘Employment growth in the occupations considered susceptible to offshoring has been very strong. The redundancy levels for these occupations, although high relative to the whole economy, have been falling in the last four years. The overall employment rate for these occupations has also shown an increase showing the cost of moving low-skilled jobs abroad is either falling or positive job creation is highly prevalent in the IT enabled occup ations. This does not mean that jobs are not being off-shored, and it is entirely possible that in the absence of offshoring, employment in these areas might have been higher. The adverse impact is entirely triggered by much larger changes in domestic demand for such services, the UK in particular has been extremely successful in developing as a world leader in knowledge based international trade. Jobs created through the expansion of exports of services are likely to outweigh the contraction of jobs caused by import of services. According to a report by Amiti and Jin Wei (2005) job growth at divisional levels has not been negatively related to service outsourcing but has had a negative impact on the demand for unskilled labour. In the UK outsourcing has had no reflected effect on the labourforce. The Deloitte and Recruitment Employment Confederation Report states that both permanent and temporary staff billings continue to rise. National press recruitment advertising in the UK went down by 11.3% in July 2005 in both public and private sectors reflecting a positive direction in the labour market and no relevant changes in the economy. Outsourcing is increasing consultancy work in the United Kingdom hence is beneficial as it offers flexible working hours / days for UK employees. This is particularly favorable for women who are raising children as is allows them to earn a salary whilst at the same time having adequate time with their children. There is also the flexibility of home-working. Structural changes can occur in the economies of both the outsourced/sourcing companies and due to the debate on who is benefiting/losing racism can be allowed to rear its head. A report prepared for the Department of Trade Industry by Ovum (2006) concludes that even though the actual impacts of an increase in trade and the expansion of global sourcing have been quite modest to date, offshoring can change the skills structure of labour demand, increasing the vulnerability of low-skilled workers in particular. ECONOMIC IMPACT Concern over off-shoring has become a surrogate for wider issues about economic insecurity, said Work Foundation chief economist Ian Brinkley. An interesting corollary benefit of outsourcing is the benefit to the economy. Indias National Association of Software and Services Companies commissioned a report by Evaluserve that stated that for every $100 worth of work sent abroad by US companies, $130 to $145 will be reinvested in the US economy. Cost savings are said to create value in the UK economy. Ahead of monetary capital, knowledge economy has become a focal point in the policy of outsourcing and off-shore. Strategies have been devised i.e. the Lisbon Strategy centres to promote, research, innovation in the development of human capital. In the future, human capital is the only way that Europe can remain prosperous. The main beneficiaries in the UK are the educated high skilled workers and the losers will be semi/low skilled workers. The UK government needs to investment more in education to continue pushing towards a leading knowledge based economy to avoid vulnerability. It needs to investment in human capital and focus on domestic policy choices for the losers of rapid structural changes within the UK. As a result of off-shoring the UK government is losing funds which could possibly be raised by corporate and income tax. However, it has stated that it does not have plans in place as yet to prevent outsourcing. The Department of Trade Industry has stated ‘it is a commercial decision for companies to decide where to locate their business operations such as call centres. The absence of official statistics on off-shore outsourcing leads to speculation and there is also misinterpretation of indirect measures/evidence. The experience of an individual company may or may not select a trend in a specific sector but does not allow conclusions to be made on the economy as a whole. It is possible that the rise in rice prices caused by lower production could be a result of a shift by the working population in India from working in the agriculture moving to the services sector. A great deal of knowledge is tacit and therefore difficult to transfer. Its reproduction can be extremely costly and requires an environment in which it can be harnessed effectively. According to a recent World Bank publication India is at the bottom end ranking 98 out of 128 countries of an index that measures the ability to create, absorb and diffuse knowledge therefore its threat is minimal to the UK economy. The economy-wide measures such as a countrys balance of payments can assist us in understanding the patterns of cross border trade and establish the impact of offshoring. If the outsourcing of tasks by UK based companies to off-shore locations i.e. India is soaring then the UK should be importing more of these services from India. The CBI has stated that the UK companies have benefited from off-shore as they are now receiving improved work-force skills at a low rate making their enterprises more profitable. According to results obtained from the Office for National Statistics the redundancy rate for the three months to January 2008 was 4.4 per 1,000 employees, down 0.9 over the quarter and down 1.1 over the year. These figures on the redundancy rate reflect that though a large number of organizational services have been off-shored services this has not had a significant impact on the UK economy. The UK has emerged as a world leader in ‘knowledge services and between 1995 2005 exports of its services grew by over 100% compared to its exports of traditional service exports such as transport. India is ranked 6th for global ‘insourcing behind the US, UK, German France and the Netherlands who appear to be the top rec