Recruitment Chinese Resources - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 31 Words: 9272 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? Abstract The study looks into the various aspects of recruitment employed within the Chinese SME sector. It examines the recruitment methods for the higher level management positions. Other aspects of HR such as reward and recognition are also examined as they are closely aligned to the recruitment process. The research looks into the various methods of recruitment and discusses the use of internet as an effective recruitment medium. It also compares the recruitment practices in Chinese SMEs to those of western countries and the US. Leadership and management involvement in the recruitment process is also discussed and analyzed. The integration of recruitment within the HR framework is also assessed and explored. The methodology used for the purpose of this study relies on Secondary data collected from books, journals, magazines, TV interviews, News channels, Internet and online journals. Cases Studies of Chinese SMEs are studied and analyzed before coming to a particular conclusion. Some case s from German and UB based small and medium sector firms is also studied to compare the difference in recruitment practices. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Recruitment Chinese Resources" essay for you Create order Introduction It is a widely held view that an organizations human resources are its most important assets and, among the resources available, may offer the only non-imitative competitive edge (Pfeffer, 1994; Huselid, 1995). Thus, an organizations ability to attract and retain capable employees may be the single most important determinant of organizational effectiveness. As the point of entry for employees, the recruitment function plays a critical role in enhancing organizational survival and success in the extremely competitive and turbulent business. Most companies in China describe the availability of highly qualified staff in the region as insufficient. Essentially, the recruitment process begins with the identification of a vacancy, after which the recruiter receives authorization to fill it. The job is then carefully analyzed and the knowledge, skills, ability, and experience required to effectively perform the job are identified (Pilbeam Corbridge, 2002). This implies using existing job analysis data or doing a job analysis. The recruiter may also consider the job environment, as well as the organizations culture and strategy, to determine individual characteristics necessary for a job fit. The recruitmenteffort is then planned and coordinated. Internally, one of the most common methods, especially in Chinese organizations, involves posting vacancies within the organization and encouraging bids from current employees. Externally, the organization depends on employee referrals, newspaper and other print media ads, employment agencies, search firms, college recruiting, and job fairs. Background to the research Rising competition in a globalized economy has entailed restructuring in production processes and an orientation towards new technologies and lean management concepts. Owing to these changes, the demands placed on highly qualified staff regarding their technical, organizational and social competence has risen (Buttler Tessaring, 1993; Kadritzke, 1993; Wolf, 1994). With some delay, which is typical for modernization and innovation processes in peripheral regions, new patterns of job requirements have entered the Asian region. A rising number of Chinese companies require increasingly qualified staff with wide-ranging job experiences. From 1949 to 1979, China had a completely centrally planned economy; all industries were owned and run by the state. Personnel management was characterized by the iron rice bowl, which ensured jobs for life and a cradle to grave welfare policy (Wamer, 1993, 1995). Individual workers were born into, educated by, spent all their working lives in and then enjoyed their retirement.This approach to personnel management was originally copied from the Soviet Union and it often resulted in a mismatch of skills with enterprise needs and, combined with the long-term security of employment, meant enterprises could not use their workforce in order to obtain a strategic or competitive advantage (Child, 1994; Chen, 1995; Wamer, 1999). Since 1979, China has embarked on a strategy of economic reform, based on the Open Door policy and the Four Modernizations (of agriculture, industry, defence and science and technology) (Warner, 1996, 2000). Chinas economic reform has involved an unprecedented transi tion from a centrally planned economy to a more individualistic market-based one (Goodall and Warner, 1999; Child, 2000; Nolan, 2001). These economic reforms have necessitated significant changes in HRM, including an apparent move away from central job allocation, lifetime employment, egalitarian pay and political control. Personnel practices, once considered a state responsibility, have now become part of the strategic management of the enterprise (Benson and Zhu, 1999). Recent reforms now allow enterprises increasingly to recruit, allocate and reward people according to their competence (Benson et al, 2000). The flexible deployment of workers has been enhanced by individual contracting and, to a certain extent, individual compensation schemes, which recognize differences in educational background, skills, training and work effectiveness. Research aim and objectives The aim of this research exercise is to find out the reasons that why companies can not recruit right people in China. The main objectives are: To addresses the various aspects (recruitment process, strategy, channel) of recruitment practices for higher management in Small and Medium Enterprises in China. To find out what are the process of recruitment and selection and identify which are the crucial parts To examine higher-level recruitment related issue within SMEs in China To identify the factors that impact companies difficult to find right employee in China To bring out some suggestions of recruitment and selection for companies Methodology Layout and structure of the dissertation The dissertation is laid out in five chapters, sub-divided logically on the basis of their relative importance to the study. Each chapter looks at the research problem in a different perspective though there is noticeable degree of inter-relationship amongst them. The actual study begins from chapter two with Review of Literature analyzing the different recruitment practices and the problems faced by Chinese organizations in getting them deployed. The contents in the research report can be elaborated briefly as shown under the following headings. Chapter One Introduction As the name suggests, this chapter introduces the study of the primary focus of the area of research. It clearly marks out the purpose, aim and objectives of the research giving a reader a guideline as to what to expect. It also gives out the scope of the research and spells out the rationale behind the study. Chapter Two Literature Review This chapter primarily prepares the study for empirical work by looking at evaluations and conclusions drawn on certain theories and concepts to check for similarities and difference made by past writers on similar or related studies. Its on this basis, that later stages in the research are developed. It is therefore, purely a representation of secondary data with various notions. In particular, academic journals, websites and textbooks that articulate models and related theories are used as a reference. Chapter Three Analysis of Research Findings This chapter is devoted to the presentation and analysis of the information collected and the theories studied as a part of this dissertation. Recruitment practices in China are examined in detail. The problems associated with the learning techniques are clearly highlighted. Chapter Five Conclusions After careful examination, evaluation, assessment and analysis of data, in this chapter, the study points out how the aims and objectives of the research are met. It points out how the respective objectives are realized and tries to give an answer to the research question. It also discusses the future trends in recruitment practices and how they might effect the current practices in China. Chapter Six Recommendations The last and final chapter of the study gives recruitment specific recommendations based on the study undertaken. The chapter also discusses the limitations of the study and areas where further research may be carried out. SUMMARY This chapter provided us with a basic guideline of the things to come. It gave a detailed description of the aim, purpose and objectives of the study and what the study seeks to achieve. It clearly mentioned the scope of the research and areas where the study will not throw much light on. The study now moves forward to discuss the existing theories and concepts related to recruitment. It will also examine the problems associated with current recruitment practices. Chapter 2 Literature Review Skills Shortage According to market experts, there is not only a general shortage of workers in the upper segment of the labour market in the Asian region but also a lack of executives highly qualified in personnel management who can `stimulate and mobilize people, i.e. who meet requirements in socialization and integration for introducing new organizational concepts. A lack of sensibility for a modern personnel policy in many of the traditional Chinese firms; due to cultural provincialism, positions of junior executives and specialists are too often not filled in the best possible way. A core objective of modern economies throughout the world today concerns how to create the conditions for rapid and sustained productivity growth and superior competitive advantage. Nordhaug (2004; pg 6) notes that the recent upsurge in human capital research, preoccupied with the recruitment and selection of employees, lends support to the view that competitiveness is increasingly being built around strong investmen t in human resources. Indeed, Sappey and Sappey (1999; pg 88) posit that some industrialized societies may well have been impeding their own economic development by ignoring the necessity for a more skilled workforce. The dimensions of human capital encompass not only the level of education but also the work experience of the labour force and managerial expertise. Staffing is a major strategic HRM practice that helps small and medium sector organizations to have the right people in the right place at the right time. It can be divided into recruitment and selection. Recruitment is defined as searching for and obtaining potential job candidates in sufficient numbers and quality so that the organization can select the most appropriate people to fill its job needs (Zwart, 2003). Selection is the process of gathering information for the purposes of evaluating and deciding who should be employed in particular jobs (Dowling et al., 1994). In China, recruitment and selection are usually not separated. As a filtering mechanism in the selection process, the recruitment function is one of the most important areas of human resource management. Essentially, the purpose of recruitment is to locate and attract qualified job candidates to fill job vacancies. The emphasis is on qualified candidates, since considerable resources may be wasted processing unquali fied applicants. Ideally, recruitment follows from a systematic human resource planning process, whereby an organization analyzes and plans for the flow of people into, through, and out of the organization (Dahl Wels, 2002). Recruitment also goes hand in hand with the selection process whereby organizations evaluate the suitability of candidates for various jobs. Thus, without effective planning systems, organizations may recruit the wrong type and numbers of people, and without effective recruitment, organizations may end up processing and selecting people who are not the best on the market. Ahmad (2003) argues that there is a major difference between recruitment at middle-management and more operative levels as compared to those in the upper management posts. One of the other key recruitment issues is whether firms recruit internally or externally. Internal vs External Recruitment Economists have long emphasized the importance of the internal labor market in shielding workers from external labor market fluctuations (Reina, 2001). An obvious reason to recruit externally instead of promoting from within is that outsiders might possess specific skills or characteristics that the firm needs (Baron and Kreps 1999). But researchers like Lima and Centeno (2003) argue that outside recruiters often lack the firm-specific investment that the insiders have built up through their careers within the firm. Also, by recruiting externally, the firm decreases the chance of internal promotion. Eg A supervisor might be worthy enough to be promoted to a mid- management level position, but external recruitment not only prevents him from being promoted but also minimizes the future progression possibilities. But, Hays et al., (2004) believe that external recruitment reduces the effectiveness of negative activities and leads the internal employees to substitute productive effort in place of negative effort, which results in an increase in productive effort. It is largely being believed in the research community that although external recruitment hurts the morale of insiders and reduces their total effort, the output of the workers actually increases due to this. Cost saving are put forward as a major advantage for internal promotion. Long-term staff members have a store of company-specific knowledge and qualifications and thus need less investment for initial guidance and training than external candidates; moreover it saves costs for advertising, consultants, and the selection procedure, and it lowers the risk of selecting the `wrong person (Marchack, 2002). Today, knowledge is very short-lived and increasing requirements of experience and know-how in different settings place high priority on people constantly extending their qualifications, which often best can be achieved by professional mobility (Mullins, 2005). Without sufficient importation of the new impulses and creativity potential given by new staff members, Chinese SMEs may run the risk of losing competitiveness. The economic reform in China has also necessitated significant changes in HRM, including an apparent move away from central job allocation, lifetime employment, egalitarian pay and political control. But, in spite of this, most of the companies in China had long-time employees and higher level vacancies were mostly filled by internal promotion (including transfers from other locations of the companies) according to the seniority rule. But, small enterprises in China were too small to be able to `build up the staff they needed in higher positions; in many cases it was by coincidence that a staff member was available or not to move up to a higher position that had come open (Jago, 1996). What added to the woes of the smaller organizations, was they did not have a proper qualification program or implemented personnel development programs. Recruitment process Essentially, the recruitment process begins with the identification of a vacancy, after which the recruiter receives authorization to fill it. The job is then carefully analyzed and the knowledge, skills, ability, and experience required to effectively perform the job are identified. This implies using existing job analysis data or doing a job analysis. The Chinese recruiter may also consider the job environment, as well as the organizations culture and strategy, to determine individual characteristics necessary for a job fit. The recruitment effort is then planned and coordinated. Recruitment is to attract people that make contributions to the organizations work process. The whole recruitment process can be sub-divided into different stages. The first stage is to determining the vacancies for recruitment that organizations have to make. Pilbeam and Corbridge (2002) also argued that establish a prima facie case should be the first thing that organization have to consider. Whatever resignation, dismissal, increased workload or reorganization will create a vacancy. This phase is to help managers to rebuild the structure of the organization and allocate the responsibility. After a prima facie case for recruitment has been completed, job analysis is the next stage that provides the opportunity for evaluating whether the job has changes. The stage usually begins with a definition of the ideal candidate and a systematic review of the organizations requirements which can also be termed as requirements analysis. The ideal candidate refers to the profile of an applicant who would best fit the job. The necessity of requirements analysis lies in the fact, that it not only helps to understand the blueprint behind the workings of the organization, but also identifies different jobs and how they fit together (Innis and Kleiner, 2002). This stage is for reviewing the knowledge, skills, qualities and competencies required of this job. It also is the systematic process of collecting information about the tasks, responsibilities and contexts of a job. (Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2002) The choice of a particular recruitment channel represents the second selective stage of the recruitment process. Chinese firm may advertise the vacancy, or it may restrict recruitment to the internal labour market (ILM) or to friends and relatives of employees. The third stage is the selection stage which builds on from the first and second stage. In this stage, the selection tools are largely based on the results of the job analysis (Bach and Sisson, 2000). At this stage, applicants have to pass through a set of filters such as application forms, reading, writing, personality tests, and interviews with personnel and first-line managers. This stage also provides the basis for all aspect of organizational reviews of performance and training, reward systems, staff development and career progression. In addition, job analysis techniques are a pivotal tool for gathering information that can be applied to expend healthy selection systems (Piotrowski et al., 2006). The interview is the most important filter built into the procedure. In China, it is biased towards the cultural norms and social values of the interviewer. Job description Mullins (2005) and Bach and Sisson (2000) stated that job analysis focuses on work-oriented analysis (job description) or worker-oriented analysis (person specification). A job description is used to highlight the features of working environment and present the requirements of the job. Bach and Sisson (2000) agree that job description should describe the objective of the job and tasks to be undertaken under that management position, what the task will be undertaken and the responsibilities. The descriptions should also include the details of salary, interests, working conditions and hours. Perry and Kleiner (2002) point out that drafting a job description is the important step for hiring employee as the job description identifies the skills and abilities needed for the job. A well constructed job description includes technical and performance skills, fundamental or non-fundamental job functions and the qualifications. Recruitment Methods In the search for highly qualified staff, companies advertised their job offers in newspapers or magazines that had a national circulation; some engaged in private personnel offices or head-hunters while other went addressed the issue with public employment agencies (Anderson et al., 2004). In addition, information on job openings was commonly distributed through informal channels or preferred candidates were addressed directly. Selection procedures for top positions are most extensive; usually they include the engagement of personnel agents or the placing of job offers in national newspapers or magazines. However, in Chinese organizations top positions generally are not advertised publicly as the number of suitable candidates is very small, they hold attractive positions and do not actively apply for other jobs. At this level the strategy to hire new staff is to address a candidate directly. Some Chinese SMEs may apply more diverse recruitment techniques and several search strategies may be initiated concurrently. Job offers may be advertised in national and regional newspapers or magazines. They normally refrain from employing personnel agents and head-hunters. Exceptions from this rule are made if the open position requires specialists that are very scarce and have to be enticed away from competing employers (Hollenbeck, 2002). Another reason to engage head-hunters or personnel agents is to avoid extensive selection procedures, e.g. if there is reason to believe that advertising a job would generate a flood of applications and the ensuing processing of the applications would be very time-consuming. The search for personnel can be further differentiated by types of firms. Big companies apply more professional and costly strategies than smaller ones. SMEs in China not only avoid engaging personnel agents or head-hunters, but in general apply rather restricted search activities; quite a few merely advertised the job offer in the regional press and informed the regional public employment agency about the vacancy (Polyhart et al., 2003). Recruitment methods and strategies also differed by business sectors. Eg. Manufacturing companies advertised positions at higher levels much more frequently in nationwide newspapers and magazines and relied much more on personnel agents than service companies. Recruitment Strategy It is the power of the Chinese firm in the labour market that determines the degree of choice which the firm can exercise in deciding upon a particular recruitment strategy. The firms which are in the most powerful position are those which can offer the best remuneration package of wages, working conditions, fringe benefits, and job security (Wallace Vodanovich, 2004). The second variable which influences the recruitment strategy used by the firm is its organizational intelligence. This term describes the capacity of the Chinese firm to use professional knowledge, to collect and process information, and to work out complex labour market strategies (Bourgault, Mary, 2001). There are firms which manage to survive only by muddling through whereas others establish professional departments to control external labour markets and to work out strategies for manpower utilization. The third variable which is used to develop the typology describes the technical complexity of the product and t he production process. This variable, however, is not used systematically in China because recruitment strategies are only marginally influenced by technical constraints. The selectivity of the Chinese firm is determined by the specific combination of the various instruments of recruitment. Different firms recruit workers with different levels of skill and background characteristics for very similar types of jobs. Thus, the recruitment strategy of a firm is defined as an organizational decision-making process in which several departments (personnel management, first-line manager) are involved. The choice of a particular recruitment strategy depends upon both environmental constraints and the internal resources of the organization. New Recruitment methods A review of the literature reveals that the increased use of IT in recruitmentis having a fundamental impact on all aspects of an organizations recruitmentfunction, including its people, i.e., the HR personnel involved (the recruiters themselves); processes, i.e., the operations inherent in the recruitment function; and organizational structures or forms (Hendrickson, 2003). Contemporary IT systems are leading Chinese organizations to implement new processes in recruitmentand selection. For instance, some Chinese organizations might request applicants to provide on-line biographical information often used to predict employee performance, including educational attainment and relevant job experience (Milkovich and Boudreau, 1997). This information may be used to assess the likelihood of an applicant performing a job at a satisfactory level. The employer may then decide to make an offer of employment to someone passing this stage, or have the applicant take further tests, some or all of which may also be done on-line. For the recruitment personnel, these new procedures save time and cost. Eg. Advertising costs are also generally lower on the Internet versus traditional methods. One of the other ways in which IT is influencing recruitment in China is by increasing the speed and efficiency in dealing with applicants and clients. The Internet, for instance, is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. thus making it possible to advertise a position on-line almost instantaneously. As Zall (2000) notes, this alone can save a recruiter as much as five days off the time it takes to fill a job. Furthermore, response time from candidates may also be reduced. But, one has to bear in mind that the success of a just-in-time recruitment system would depend on the availability of relevant labor on the market. In a tight Chinese market, job seekers can search the Web, leave a rsum, and receive a job when a match is secured (Goodridge, 2000). This process is transforming the nature of the employment relationsh ip in China as well. Employment can become transactional rather than extended, with an employee using his/her skills sets to bargain and move from one employer to another so as to enhance his/her career (Piturro, 2000). Summary This chapter dealt with the relevant theories and concepts that pertain to the concept of recruitment and selection in China. It gave us the outline of the form and structure of the recruitment process and how it is embedded within the small and medium organizations. Chapter 3 Analysis Introduction The aim of this chapter it to analyze recruitment activities in Chinese SMEs and to examine the different recruitment methods used by organizations. The chapter also looks at the effectiveness of those methods. It also explores the issues related with recruitment and selection in Chinese small and medium sized organizations. Selection criteria Among the selection techniques, traditional practices like application forms, knowledge or skill tests and one-to-one and panel interviews appear to be used most frequently by SMEs in China for high level posts. Psychometric tests and assessment centres were also used at lower level but were used least with higher managerial level recruitment. This is a stark difference from recruitment practices in the Western countries like Germany and UK where instruments such as psychometric tests and assessment centres are more commonly used. One of the reasons Chinese dont use it is because of the cost involved as the psychological tests may require the help from trained and qualified staff and requires the help of professional psychologists from outside the firm to administer and interpret the test results. Different selection criteria should be used for different job assignments. Some skills are general competencies, such as leadership skills, initiative, emotional stability and motivation. These turn out to be of importance for all managers, regardless of the functional specialization. Others are seen to be specific competencies, such as the ability to handle stress, to deal with responsibility and subordinate development skills, technical skills and flexibility. These skills need to be related to functional specialization. In order to assess candidates suitability for assignments, some techniques, such as a psychological test and traditional interview, should be used in the selection process. Within a state such as China, cultural traditions and values influence the way politicians, business people, workers and consumers think and behave, while political authorities lay down the legal and regulatory framework in which business transactions are conducted (Kelly and Prokhovnik, 2004: 89-90). Chinese business traditionalist view is closely interlinked and with families (Ong, 2002; Dahles and Wels, 2002). The rise of online recruitment methods in China Traditionally, organizations in China have depended on fairly low-tech methods, including newspaper ads and employee referrals, to locate and attract qualified candidates. Of late, the recruitment function has been undergoing dramatic changes as a result of information technology (IT). While there are still more changes underway, its clear that the Web has quickly and dramatically changed the way the recruiting industry works (Kay, 2000, p. 72). The Internet is one of the most popular IT methods used in recruiting job candidates. In the past, the Chinese recruiter depended on fairly low-tech methods to produce a pool of potential qualified candidates. Internally, one of the most common methods, especially in Chinese organizations, involved posting vacancies within the organization and encouraging bids from current employees. Externally, the organization depended on employee referrals, newspaper and other print media ads, employment agencies, search firms, college recruiting, and job. The research found out that recently, many Chinese organizations have begun to use innovative information technology (IT) methods to complement the traditional sources. but larger companies used high-tech methods more than smaller companies. Not wanting to lose out on either the continued importance of traditional methods or the promise of high-tech approaches, many Chinese companies are adopting a dual approach, viz., using both high- and low-tech approaches. For instance, some Chinese SMEs firms are placing short print ads for higher level positions in newspapers, with a reference to the full ad on a web site. Some also advertise in newspapers, such as the Wall Street Journal which is usually read by people of higher rank. How Chinese recruitment practices differ from the rest Chinese SMEs need to review their recruitment strategies and think more laterally to ensure that theyre well equipped for the future. In the wake of global credit crisis and not very encouraging growth in economy forecast, it is all the more important that the correct people are hired. This means that the right methodologies are used to screen individuals. The methodologies should not only be the ideal fit for the screening of candidates, but should reduce the recruitment cost and the cycle time. It was highlighted in the review of literature and in the analysis chapter that the cost of recruitment is lower with online tools as compared to traditional methods. SMEs in China need to increasingly adapt the internet as a recruitment tool. This is where Chinese recruitment differs to the ones in Europe and Asia. Eg. A typical higher management recruitment in UK would employ both the online and traditional methods for screening. Online numerical, verbal, reasoning and personality tests ar e normally conducted as the first phase of interviewing. Once candidates get past this stage, the next stage involves face-to-face interviewing where candidates are asked competency or scenario based questions. They are asked to demonstrate their skills at dealing with situations. This is followed by a series of technical questions. Some companies also employ case studies where candidates have to study and analyze the case and answer case related questions. In western recruitment practices, there is equal involvement of the HR and the line managers. The face to face interview is conducted in the presence of HR personnel and the line manager / director. HR is responsible for judging the psychology of the candidate and soft skills (such as communication, team-working, cooperation) while the line manager is responsible for judging the overall skill set required for the job. They assess the candidates technical, numerical and other relevant skills through their set of questions. Chinese business practices on the other hand are less reliant on HR and some SMEs dont even include any HR personnel in the recruitment process. One of the other aspects of recruitment where China differs from the Western world is in the concept of taking references. Countries like Germany and UK require potential employees professional and personal references. Employees previous employers are contacted (with employees permission) to find out the general conduct of employees. Chinese culture is so dominant in its recruitment practices that they dont feel the need to ask for references. A good proportion of recruits are recommended by friends and family and most often than SMEs dont check references. On the contrary, there have been cases in Germany where even after candidates successful qualification through interviews, they werent given the offer letter until the references were checked. Most employers make sure that they get a reply from candidates previous employers back before they make the decision to recruit the candidate. So, in a way, references form a part of the recruitment process. Responsibilities of line management HR should share responsibility with line management rather than having sole responsibility. Line involvement seems to be stronger in the areas of recruitment and selection and in particular regarding the final hiring decisions, training and development and workforce expansion/reduction. This is consistent with the point made by Hays and Sowa (2004) in the review of literature who emphasized that the performance and delivery of HRM is a management responsibility, shared among line (operational) managers and those responsible for running service or staff (related) functions. It was found that line managers had some substantial responsibilities for HR issues in SMEs. This evidence is consistent with a suggestion that some of the principles of Western models of HRM have been adopted in the Chinese organizations. This highlights that there is a desire for strategic integration and some substantial devolution and sharing of decision making recruitment (Jenei et al., 2001). Recruitment planning The study also found out that recruitment planning plays an important part in the recruitment process. A recruitment process which lacks planning can end up spending a lot of money on recruitment activities. Chinese small and medium sector organizations need to position themselves to attract talent looking for new opportunities, and planning is the key (Ito, 2002). Lack of proper planning can lead to high recruitment cost, it could also mean that the SME can run the risk of recruiting the wrong person. Besides, lack of planning can also delay the whole process of recruitment. Eg. A common scenario that occurs within the SME is the leaving of key employees, which places extra strain on those left to pick-up the additional workload. The pressure is then on the hiring manager / director to find a replacement as soon as possible to ensure the remaining employees dont get de-motivated or burnt out because of the heavier workload. However, because of the tight market and the inability to a ttract the right talent for your business, the hiring manager has to go with someone whom they think will do the job. These kinds of decisions taken in a hurry can prove to be wrong later and the manager might discover that the candidate is not the right fit. This might mean them going back to the drawing board after spending considerable time and money recruiting someone who was inappropriate for the business. Critical Success Factors Recruitment should be an integral part of companys strategy People are companys valuable resource. Every company or organization should have a People Strategy involving strategies for recruitment and selection of all personnel (Walsh, 1998; pg 33). In order to make selection effective, it should from part of organizations corporate strategy and should be pro-active. It should be in consonance with the culture of organization national and regional sub-cultures and well designed to suit needs of organizations. The recruitment process should always start by reviewing the organization structure. From a human resources perspective, the organization structure defines how the business operates, what roles, skill sets, knowledge and competencies are required for the effective operation of the business to meet the business strategy. Key to recruitment is also to ensure that the financial/revenue hurdles is met to enable the hiring manager to introduce new employees to the business (Sullivan, 2002). A established Chiense SME should also keep reviewing the organizational structure on an annual basis against their business strategy and financial goals. Other aspects of HR such as reward and recognition program, is also aligned to recruitment. Sullivan (2002) states that the days of offering only a salary package are gone and Chinese SMEs need to be willing to recognise and reward people for their good performance. The program needs to ensure that rewards are consistent with the business strategy and it is not all about financial gain. It is more about what drives the employees. The reward structure also reflects the type of type of people the SME is trying to employ to meet the needs of the business. This will help in the employee branding of the organization and through this program the organization can provide a program that will encourage the staff to work efficiently and strive for higher levels of performance. Recruitment problems in China Chinese capitalism combines modern capitalism with traditional Chinese culture. Leung (2004) discovered that that most of the SME managers, still hire new employees on a personal basis or through word of mouth, prefer to use their business network, which largely consists of former colleagues, and study-time friends. Associates in higher level positions were taken because hiring managers knew these individuals professionally, valued their skills and were used to working with them. Some factors that typically discourage interest in public sector jobs in China include slow and bureaucratic recruitment processes, narrow job descriptions, the perception that seniority prevails over merit, and excessive rules and regulations (Langan 2002). Chinese public sector recruitment has a notorious reputation for being slow, unresponsive, bureaucratic and passive. Too often, public agencies have assumed that qualified applicants would clamor for job openings. These agencies therefore are seldom engaged in aggressive outreach programs or other ways to attract superior job candidates (Williams, 2001). In many cases, this reactive approach results from the centralized and control-oriented way that HR services are delivered. This often means that applicants enter into public through a single point of entry in China where a jurisdictions entire recruitment function is handled by one or two agencies. The desk research revealed that most SMEs in China applied recruitment methods such as internet, agencies and advertising. But, instead of the various recruitment methods employed, employers are still finding it difficult and time-consuming to recruit the right staff. It is not much different with the employees as they are finding it hard to get the right jobs. All this suggests that something somewhere is not working within Chinese SMEs. Some of the factors that are leading to such a phenomenon are Excess importance on qualification and professional courses. Some SMEs pay excess emphasis on managers academic background and the qualification they have acquired over the years. Professional qualification and certification are key recruitment attributes for these companies. The premise of their belief is that people having higher education will be easy to accommodate within the confines of the high job because of their implicit knowledge. Although, education should be a major recruitment attribute, it should not be the only variable which organizations should consider while recruiting. This is because, many skilled individuals may have the experience but not the education. Equal weight should be given to both class-room and on-job learning. Some Chinese SMEs, on the other hand, focus just on work experience and not education. This is mainly driven by the additional training and development costs which SMEs have to incur in order to train the individuals who have not worked under organizational settings. These SMEs focus on the short-term value they get out of the recruits. At higher levels, recruits should be backed both by academic and professional knowledge and experience. Their skills should be in line with the job at hand and should match the strategy and goal of the concerned organization. Lack of alignment also results in wrong recruitment decisions. Chinese organizations dont have a vision on the evolvement of a role. They recruit to fill the needs gap that may have arisen due to someone leaving the role. There is a clear lack of planning because most of the recruitment is only to fill the vacancy. Beside, companies only recruit people for the job; they do not have any employee with ability and employee development plan. This is the most important reason that companies frequently have to recruit personnel and fail to select a right person. Job Description The desk research revealed that in order to set out a good job description, Chinese firms employ an intelligent employee technique. They question their existing management staff in similar positions to describe their daily tasks which is then used to construct a valid job description. This also helps the new employee to have a better of the job requirements. In addition, it also plays its part in understanding the workings of the organization and the associated challenges. But, this is not the case with every SME as most SMEs seem to have a generic job description which is seldom revisited. It was found out that by and large firms did not pay much emphasis on the documentation of job description. This is not different to the western countries and the US who neglect the job description documentation as well. One of the reasons for this was the multi-tasking and scope of managerial responsibility. This made it difficult to capture every aspect of the high level job in a one or two page description document. Also, the changing nature of work role is partly to be blamed. The changing role requirements entailed that people at higher levels need to possess a range of skills. Eg. A marketing manager for a small financial services firm in China needs to understand the risk and credit factors, have a sound knowledge of marketing finance and how marketing decisions impact the management accounts and have a firm understanding of marketing analytics to determine the effectiveness of their campaigns. The multiple talent and the continuous changing job role and responsibilities now require a broad skill set which is difficult to put down on paper. But, whatever the difficulty in writing the job description, SMEs must have a close match job description for higher level staff which gives them an idea of what their responsibilities are. The best way of doing this is to ask the relevant staff to write down their responsibilities and use that as a template to develop the descript ion. Summary After analysis and in-depth examination of recruitment practices in Chinese SMEs, the study now summarizes the important findings in the form of conclusions and gives the appropriate recommendations to overcome the shortcomings of recruitment methods employed. It also points out the scope of the research and the areas where further research may be undertaken. Chapter 4 Conclusions Introduction After careful examination, evaluation, assessment and analysis of data, its the prerogative of every study to point out how the aims and objectives of the research were met, which is what this chapter aims to do. It points out how the respective objectives were realized and tries to give an answer to the research question. The chapter also encapsulates specific recommendations and discusses the limitations of the study and areas where further research may be carried out. Conclusions Recruitment in general and in SMEs is a costly affair and a very time consuming process. This means that it is even more important to embark on the correct methods for recruitment. Recruitment structure is crucial to SMEs as it effects the type of personnel employed. The structure and form of recruitment is also guided by recruitment policy. Every Chinese SME has an established recruitment method policy which represents managements commitment to recruit the right employees. It appears that both modernity and history still co-exist in the business life of Chinese. As mentioned earlier, Visscher (2002) argues that the ambiguity between modernity and tradition was present in Chinese SMEs. Yet, a trend also seems to be developing that goes beyond historical continuity, having to do with the unprecedented advancement of Western business morals and mentality. The study demonstrated that families have an ambiguous place in Chinese Small and Medium Enterprises. Although China has made rapid progress in the recruitment aspect of HRM, the government administration and control over HRM matters still remain strong. Due to which, some small and medium sector organizations still lack the necessary autonomy to implement strategic HRM. From the research conducted, it can be concluded that Chinas recruitment practices for SMEs for higher management level is a hybrid of the traditional personnel management and modern HRM. Government administration and control over recrui tment matters still remain strong in China and organizations still lack the necessary autonomy to implement strategic HRM. Western-style recruitment techniques have not yet replaced existing recruitment methods. The transfer of HRM and recruitment practices in general has only been partial and has been absorbed into the Chinese managerial culture with Chinese characteristics. We have seen that families have an ambiguous place in Chinese Small and Medium Enterprises. On the one hand, the traditional element of family presence within business is praised and honoured, on the other hand, it is also seen as archaic and embarrassing. Hiring practices and succession in Chinese Small and Medium Enterprises reflect this paradox as family involvement in business is seen as a source of both pride and shame, as an expression of a lived culture and an outdated system of organizing business. Both modernity and history still co-exist in the business life of Chinese. Chinese culture is affected by global trends where modernity and tradition are closely interlinked; and the boundary between the old and the new, local and global, is continuously being renegotiated and redefined by social actors. These effects are felt through the resulting practice of hire, which is actually dictated by a mix of economic necessities and cultural loyalties or traditions. Since recruitment and selection are the first stages of a dialogue between applicants and the organization that form the employment relationship, managers / recruitment specialists in China need to realize the importance of the formation of expectations during the recruitment and selection processes. If they fail to do so, this may result in the loss of high-quality applicants and set the initial level of the employment relationship at such a low level as to make the achievement of potentially desired HRM outcomes most difficult. Personnel/HR managers should recognize that the types of selection technique they utilize to select the right employees for the jobs are critical to their firms success. The misuse of any kind of instrument may be costly to the organization and may also be demoralizing to the employee who may find himself or herself in the wrong job and consequently de-motivating to the rest of the workforce. Incorporating interviewing techniques that deal effectively with applicant misrepresentation is just as important as identifying the correct information targets that actually predict the problem. Organizations have to bear in mind that most HR activity are integrated. Similarly, the recruitment function is closely aligned with the organizations performance management framework. It was reflected in the review of literature that new talent and existing employees value the opportunity to reflect on their performance, be provided with opportunities to provide feedback from their perspective, know where they are heading within the business and the necessary steps to achieve progress. This is where the importance of performance management comes in because it actively engaged the employees and they are far more likely to take ownership of their development and focus on what they need to do to progress to the next level. From an organizational perspective, it is important to prioritize learning and development opportunities based on return to the business. Employer branding also plays an important part in recruitment. Employer branding is about articulating what the organization has to offer to its employees and how they offer it. It helps in recruiting the right people and makes the right people apply. But, for an SME becoming an employer of choice might involves a lot of resources and, depending on the size of the business, may not be feasible. Chapter 5 Recommendations Recommendations Chinese organizations have to realize the importance of online recruitment. This will help them have better access to applicant data fostered by IT. Such access may allow direct contact with applicants, thus reducing bureaucratic administrative procedures, and most likely increasing efficiency. IT can also influence organizational structures through its ability to facilitate intra- and inter-organizational teams. One of the significant advantages of IT in recruitment lies in the ability of new systems to generate a large applicant pool. Ironically, for many HR in Chinese organizations, this boon may pose an inherent challenge, via., the allocation of scarce time and resources needed to effectively process the volume of inquiries and rsums. But, for recruiting managerial staff, Chinese SMEs should not depend on the Internet for all their recruits: rather, they should diversify their advertising efforts to include the traditional applicant sources as well. Furthermore, employers should ensure that all instruments used on the Internet, like those used in traditional systems, have sound psychometric properties; that is, they must be reliable and valid. For many recruiters, Web-based prescreening tools can help in assessing a persons potential fit with the organization. This is a relatively inexpensive alternative to hiring a good testing consultant or having an HR department that is dedicated to serious testing. When making the final hiring or selection decisions, HR managers/specialists in China should look for potential candidates whose qualifications, characteristics and work-related values and attitudes most closely conform to the requirements of the open positions and who can fit well with the organizations needs and culture, and can effectively carry out required tasks and collaborate well with other colleagues. On the whole, HR managers/specialists need to ensure that the type of recruitment and selection practices they adopt is coherent and consistent with their firms business strategies and with other associated functions of HRM such as HR planning, training and development, pay and benefits, etc. Recruitment and selection need to be considered as an integrated process rather than a marginal, ad hoc activity. Job description forms an important part of the recruitment activity. Most often, it is found that SMEs dont have position description for higher managerial posts. This stems from the fact that because the higher management are involved in so many different organizational activities and have varied functions and decisions to take, it is difficult to capture the scope of their responsibility in the form of a job description. But, this should not be used as an excuse for Chinese SMEs for not having any description document because the candidates they are looking to screen or interview will want to look at some kind of job specification document. It is therefore highly recommended to develop descriptions for all the roles that the company is looking to hire. The description should encapsulate things such as the day-to-day expectations of the role, their reporting personnel, the skills, knowledge attributes and competencies required to perform the current role. Besides, if the organizatio n has an existing description, they have to be reviewed and updated as a part of the recruitment process. All too often, organizations do not revisit the job description and because of this the description does not reflect the responsibilities correctly. As a part on internal recruitment, SMEs in China should ensure that they set aside dedicated times throughout the year where they are able to provide structured formal feedback to their existing employees. This should involve a review of performance, setting a development plan to assist in meeting the requirements of the employees existing role, and grooming employees for the next step of their career progression within the business. References Ahmad, M. S. S. (2003) Work-family conflict: A survey of Chinese workers, (Singapore: Singapore Management review) Alvesson, M. (2002) Understanding Organizational Culture, London, Sage Amado, Rivka (2001). Checks, Balances, and Appointments in the Public Service: Israeli Experience in Comparative Perspective. Public Administration Review 61 (5): 569-584 Anderson, N., Lievens, F., van Dam, K., Ryan, A.M. (2004). Future perspectives on employee selection: Key directions for future research and practice. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 53, 487-501 Bach, S and Sisson, K (2000) Personnel Management a comperhensive guide to theory and practive third editioin usa: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. Bartram, D. (2004). Assessment in organizations. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 53, 237- 259 Bauman, Z. (2001) Identity in the globalizing world, Social Anthropology, 9(2), pp. 121-129. Benton, G. Gomez, E. T. (2001), Chinatown and Transnationalism. Ethnic Chinese in Europe and Southeast Bhopal, M. Rowley, C. (2003) Ethnicity as a management issue and resource: examples from Malaysia. Paper Bouckaert, Geert and Leo Victor (2001). Pride and Performance in the Civil Service: The Flemish Case. International Review of Administrative Sciences 67 (1): 65-76 Bourgault, J and Mary G (2001). Performance, Pride and Recognition in the Canadian Federal Civil Service. International Review of Administrative Sciences 67 (1): 29-47 Carroll, M and Marchington, M and Earnshaw, E and Taylor, S (1999) Recruitment in small firms Processes, methods and problems Employee Relations, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 236-250. Chan, D. (2005). Current directions in personnel selection research. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13(4), 220- 223 Chew, I and Goh, M (1997) Some future directions of human resource practices in Singapore Career Development International 2/5 238-244 Craig, M. C. (2001) Culture Shock: Singapore. A Guide to Customs and Etiquette (London: Kuperard). Current Recruitment and Selection Practices: A National Survey of Fortune 1000 Firms. By: Piotrowski, Chris, Armstrong, Terry, North American Journal of Psychology, 15277143, 2006, Vol. 8, Issue 3 Dahles, H. Wels, H. (2002) Introduction, in: H. Dahles H. Wels (Eds) Culture, Organization and Management in East Asia: Doing business in China (New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.). Dahles, H. (2004) Venturing across Borders: Investment Strategies of Singapore-Chinese Entrepreneurs in data, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 109, data, Quarterly Journal of Economics Ehrhart, K.H., Ziegert, J.C. (2005). Why are individuals attracted to organizations? Journal of Management, 31, 901 Galanaki, E (2002) The decision to recruit online: a descriptive study Career Development international 7/2 243-251 Gupta, A. Ferguson (2002) Beyond culture: Space, Identity, and the Politics of Difference Hays, S and Jessica S (2004). Staffing the Bureaucracy: Recruitment and Selection in Government. In Stephen Condrey (Editor) Handbook of Human Resource Management in Government Hendrickson, A.R. (2003). Human Resource Information Systems: Backbone Technology of Contemporary Human Resources. Journal of Labor Research 24 (3): 381-394 Henkens, K and Remery, C and Schippers, J (2005) Recruiting personnel in a tight labour market: an analysis of employers behaviour International Journal of Manpower Vol. 26 No. 5, pp. 421-433 Hollenbeck, J.R., et.al. (2002). Structural contingency theory and individual differences: Examination of external and internal person-team fit. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 599-606 Innis,J and Kleiner, B (2002)How to Hire Employees Effectively Management Research News Volume 25 Number 5 P 58-64 Ito, Jack (2002). Career Mobility and Branding in the Civil Service: An Empirical Study International Recruitment and Selection Strategies Washington, D.C. Jago, A (1996) Selecting your team: how to find the right people Librarian Career Development Volume 4 Number 3 pp. 27-31 Jenei, Gyorgy and Gabor Zupko (2001). Public Sector Performance in a New Democratic State: The Hungarian Case. International Review of Administrative Sciences 67 (1): 77-98 Kelly, B. Prokhovnik, R. (2004) Economic globalization?, in: D. Held (Ed.) A Globalizing World? Culture, Kopnina, H. (2004a) Cultural hybrids or ethnic fundamentalists? Discourses on ethnicity in Singapore small and Kopnina, H. (2004b), Family first? debates about tradition and modernity in Singapore small and medium Langan, S. (2000). Finding the needle in the haystack: The challenge of recruiting and retaining sharp employees. Public Personnel Management, 29, 461-464 Leung, A. (2004) Recruitment practices among Chinese small and medium enterprises, Human Resource Management Journal, 42(4), pp. 303-320. Luo, Y. (2000) Guanxi and Business (Singapore: World Scientific Publications). Mainland China, Asian Journal of Social Sciences, 32(1), pp. pp19-pp41. Marchack, Sandra (2002). Alternative Recruitment Strategies: Case Study on Contract Employment in the Public Service of Trinidad and Tobago. International Recruitment and Selection Strategies. Mooney, J. (2002). Pre-employment testing on the Interact: Put candidates a click away and hire at modern speed. Public Personnel Management, 31, 41-51 Ong, A. (2002) The Pacific shuttle: family, citizenship, and capital circuits, in: J. X. Inda R. Rosaldo (Eds) Perry, A and Kleiner, B (2002) How to Hire Employees EffectivelyManagement Research News Volume 25 Number 5 P 1-11 Pilbeam, S and Corbridge, M (2002) People resourcing hrm in practice second editioin london: Pearson Education Limited. Polyhart, R.E., Weekley, J.A., Holtz, B.C., Kemp, C. (2003). Web-based and paper-and-pencil testing of applicants in a proctored setting: Are personality, biodata,, and situational judgment tests comparable? Personnel Psychology, 56, 733-752 Portes, A., Guarnizo, L. E. Landolt, P. (1999) The study of transnationalism: Pitfalls and promises of an pp. 231-245 Reichenberg, Neil (2002). Branding the Government As An Employer of Choice. International Recruitment and Selection Strategies. Washington, D.C.: IPMA-HR Reina, Rocco (2001). The Personnel Management in the Italian Public Administration. Tempus Programme at IPA, Bratislava Su, C., Sirgy, M.J., Littlefied, J.E. (2003) Is Guanxi In, Journal of Business Ethics, 44(4), pp. 303-312. Tan, K.-B. E. (2000) Success amidst prejudice: Guanxi networks in Chinese businesses in Indonesia and Malaysia, Journal of Asian Business, 16(1), pp. 39-52. Taylor, P., Keelty, Y., McDonnell, B. (2002). Evolving personnel selection practices in New Zealand organisations and recruitment firms. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 31, 8-18 Tyson, S (2006) Essentials of Human Resource Management Fifth Edition USA: Elsevier Ltd Visscher, S. (2002b) Dissertation Business, ethnicity and state. The representational relationship of the Singapore Wallace, J.C., Vodanovich, S.J. (2004). Personnel application blanks: Persistence and knowledge of legally inadvisable application blank items. Public Personnel Management, 33, 331- 349 West, John and Evan Berman (2001). From Traditional to Virtual HRM: Is the Transition Occurring In Local Government? Review of Public Personnel Administration 21 (1): 38-64 Wilk, S.L., Cappelli, P. (2003). Understanding the determinants of employer use of selection methods. Personnel Psychology, 56, 103-124 Williams, Helen (2001). Perceptions and Performance: The Australian Public Service Experience. International Review of Administrative Sciences 61 (1): 49-64 Yeoh, B. Willis, K. (2004) Singapore Unlimited?: Configuring social identity in the regionalization process, available at https://www.transcomm.ox.ac.uk/working_papers.htm. Zwart, E. (2003), How Chinese are the Transnational Business Coalitions of the Malaysian-Chinese Small and Medium Enterprises? The influence of Generation on Business Practices. Paper presented at Third International Convention of Asia Scholars, Singapore.

The Fire From The Stone Hearth Cast Out Its Warmth. Arthur’S

The fire from the stone hearth cast out its warmth. Arthur’s feet, still damp from a wonderful soak in water mixed with some herbs to relieve the aches, basked in the comforting heat. His elbow rested on the arm of the ornate chair, its high, straight back did nothing to relieve the aches in his spine. With his chin resting on his hand, his blue eyes reflected the glowing reds and oranges of the nearby flames. Cautiously, his eyes would shift to his manservant when he thought Merlin wasn’t looking. He knew he should confront Merlin about the notes that MIthian had shown him. But, what good would come of it, he wondered. If Arthur acknowledged the letters, he would be forced to follow it with some decision he was sure to dislike. In some†¦show more content†¦They were tales Arthur already knew, and some adventures he’d participated in himself. He wondered for a moment why they seemed to capture Merlin’s attention so strongly. Then, he remembered that tonight had been one of the first feasts Merlin had ever been allowed to attend as something other than a servant. Guinevere had been able to slip into the life of a lady easily, her years as Morgana’s maid had given her an appreciation for some of the finer details on posture and poise when it came to the nobles in the court. Merlin rarely displayed such an adhesion to propriety. Could he actually transcend beyond his role as servant to be a suitor to a princess? There were times Arthur may have thought so, but the bumbling, clumsy idiot part of the man would always make itself known shortly after. â€Å"It won’t work, you know,† Arthur said quietly, his inattention to Merlin’s ramblings obvious. Merlin paused. His hands stilled as they pulled down the bedcovers. He quirked his eyebrow up in a manner that remind Arthur of Gaius. The manservant’s eyes shifted back and forth trying to make sense of Arthur’s abrupt input to what had been a one-sided conversation. â€Å"Well, Gwaine already did get the girl and the mead,† he said, referring to the story he’d been retelling. â€Å"Are you saying you don’t think he’d be able to do it again?† â€Å"No. I’m talking about Princess Mithian. I saw one of the letters she received and recognized the handwriting,

Alcoholism Issue Within College Society Free Essays

string(42) " freshmen students in finding a new home\." Do you remember graduating high school? Remember all the questions you had to ask yourself. What are you going to do now? Do you want to work? Do you want to go to school again for another four years? These questions are eventually answered and some choose to find a job, and others figure out that going to college is probably a good thing. Now you have realized that you want to get a taste of college life and you†re back to where you started. We will write a custom essay sample on Alcoholism Issue Within College Society or any similar topic only for you Order Now Where do you get the money? Where do you want to go? What are you really going to get out of this? Finally you make your decisions and you now find yourself away from home in a new environment, living the college life. College is a time where tough decisions are to be made and these choices can change the direction of your life. It is a time where in most cases students get a taste of the real world by being away from home for the first time with a new found freedom to live as they please. College life is a new experience and the pressures that come along with it have an effect on a student†s path to success. Unfortunately, alcohol is one of these pressures. Alcohol abuse is a major problem that many young men and women encounter throughout their college experience. Drinking on college campuses is a problem that affects everyone. Let†s first begin by understanding what alcoholism is and what it does to us. Alcoholism can be defined as an illness or a chronic disorder that comes from constant drinking. It obviously has serious physical and mental effects on a person. According to Louis Joylon West, M. D. a professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the UCLA School of Medicine, the attributes that define an addiction, in this case alcohol, include craving, tolerance and withdrawal phenomena (West, 28). This is a problem that exists among men and women of all ages. Alcohol addiction has no barriers to race, religion or sex; anyone can have this addiction. Is alcoholism a disease? The American Medical Association and the World Health Organization officially acknowledged alcoholism as a disease in the 1950†³s. It is very apparent that alcohol abuse has major effects on major organs of the body. Ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, causes severe damage to excretory organs including the liver and kidneys. Yet the major organ affected the most by outcomes of ethanol is the brain. Long-lasting effects of impairment of normal brain functions and damage of brain tissue are results of constant drinking. These outcomes eventually lead to other diseases of the body such as cirrhosis of the liver and mental disorders including depression and anxiety. However, addiction to alcohol has side effects not only to a person†s body but effects to those who surround them. Stewart G. Wolf, a professor at the Temple University School of Medicine, states, It should be emphasized that alcoholism is more than a disease of an individual. It disrupts the equilibrium of the family structure and, in one way or another, affects every family member. New equilibriums must be established when the alcoholic stops drinking, and there are adjustment to be made throughout both the drinker†s period of recovery and after the establishment of long-term sobriety (28). College drinking among university and college campuses across the United States is very prominent. According to studies conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, heavy drinking by college students has gone up since the beginning of the 1990†³s to the present. The study conducted in 1993 included a survey of 15,103 students to learn of student drinking habits. Results of the study showed that 39 percent of surveyed students consumed alcohol until they felt drunk. The same study was conducted in 1997 among 14,521 students and showed that 52 percent â€Å"drank to get drunk†, an increase of 13 percent. However binge drinking, defined as consumption of five drinks in a row by men and at least four drinks in a row by women in the past two weeks, has gone down according to the study (American Medical News, 39). This landmark study of college drinking has changed the thoughts and ideas of college administrators. It has been proven that this is a major problem, and it is worsening among the young men and women who attend our colleges. College drinking has an effect on not only the drinkers, but on their friends and classmates as well. How are non-drinking students affected by the presence of alcohol? Many are pressured to drink in order to fit in with a crowd. Many students feel that it is cool to be seen with a beverage in your hand at a party or a function. The need for acceptance among their peers is a big deal to many first-year students and therefore many give in to these pressures. Yet there are many students that come to college to study and not to party. It has been proven that drinking on campus has consequences for those who choose not drink as well. According to the Brown University Digest of Addiction Theory and Application, students who drink cause problems that effect other students who do not drink. Non-drinking students, at schools where drinking was common, reported having sleeping and study difficulties (68%) as well as having to console drunken students regularly (54%). Also, the study showed that students reported being degraded and harassed by students that were intoxicated (34%) and having been sexually provoked by drunken students (26%). Students attending other schools where excessive drinking took place reported similar results (5). How does the presence of alcohol affect first-year college students? Many students that are going to college for the first time are looking for new friends and buddies to hang out with. Fraternities and sororities at our colleges in the United States help freshmen students in finding a new home. You read "Alcoholism Issue Within College Society" in category "Papers" This in turn introduces them to the social functions that exist within a college campus. The Greek society within our colleges and universities has for years been known to contribute in student drinking on campus. In the November 1, 1998 edition of the Oregonian, writer Spencer Heinz reported that four out of five people associated with college fraternities or sororities were binge drinkers (A2). Fraternity and sorority life is considered a brotherhood and sisterhood. They encourage a family-like relationship between members and promote partying together. Unfortunately, many functions created by these fraternities and sororities do not prohibit the use of alcohol. Members are therefore allowed to drink at these parties, which exposes new students to alcohol. Many of these freshmen are not mature enough to know where to draw a line and when this occurs, problems begin. There are far too many examples of how drinking among college fraternities and sororities have led to severe consequences. Heavy consumption of alcohol has been the cause of an increased number of assaults and unintentional injuries on campuses across the United States. Alcohol related deaths have gone up as well. A direct example is the case of Benjamin Wynne, an undergraduate student that attended Louisiana State University. Upon gaining acceptance into the fraternity, Alpha Sigma Epsilon, the fraternity had a party where alcoholic drinks were served. Wynne died the next morning with a blood alcohol level of . 588. The fraternity eventually was charged with purchasing alcohol for eighty-six underage drinkers and pleaded no contest. This is an unfortunate freak accident but who is to say that it will not happen again? The fraternity that he wanted to become a part of caused his death. Yes, Benjamin Wynne’s case was very extreme in its nature but heavy drinking is very much a part of the life that exists within fraternities and sororities. We cannot say that fraternities and sororities are the cause of all drinking-related problems on campus. The truth is that these organizations benefit a lot of students. Many colleges do not have fraternities and sororities but this does not make them different from any other school. They still have the same problems with alcohol and students are affected in the same ways. Take for instance Southwestern Oregon Community College, a college without fraternities and sororities. Many students at this college see alcohol at their parties and just like any other college, there are students cannot handle the problems that their drinking creates. Unfortunately, it can change their lives. A student at Southwestern Oregon Community College, who we will call Haley to protect her identity, is a prime example of this. How do we begin to solve this problem? There is obviously no one single person, no single cause that can be put to blame for this problem that exists at our colleges. Yet it must be realized that unfortunately, as wrong as it may be, alcohol becomes a part of many students’ lives. Many American-College students go to parties where alcohol is present. But the majority of these students are underage, illegal drinkers according to our laws. The point being that trying to tell students not to drink and hoping that they will listen does not work very well. Richard P. Keeling, author of an article titled â€Å"Drinking in College: the Politics of Research and Prevention†, writes The very nature of the academy is to encourage exploration, discovery and the testing of new ideas and experiences. Besides, many college and university students are of, or achieve, legal drinking age while they are enrolled. Higher education, therefore, cannot have a credible policy the simple option available to secondary schools: â€Å"just say no. † It is not enough for institutions of higher learning to advocate (or â€Å"teach†) abstinence (51). Preventing alcohol abuse among students should be through education of the problems that come about from alcohol, not by just simply saying that drinking is wrong. Saying that it is wrong to drink before reaching the legal age will not prevent our young adults from abusing alcohol. The only outcome of this is that we will have young adults abusing alcohol legally, as soon as they reach the age of twenty-one. Abstinence does not educate our college students of the dangers that are caused by the use of alcohol; it only makes them ignorant to what can happen. Education can be in the form of health forums, increasing alcohol awareness on campus and the creation of prevention programs. These are all far superior alternatives to promoting abstinence from alcohol because it teaches students in a mature way. It provides them with knowledge and understanding instead of trying to tell them what to do. The fact is that there is no way to eliminate the use of alcohol thus our only prevention is to educate kids at our colleges and universities properly and maturely. Programs must be installed in every school in the United States to lead our future in the right direction. We must teach our youth that alcohol is a very habit-forming, addictive drug that has severe aftermaths. Students must understand what the risks are and what measures can be used to inform others of this problem. Clifford R. Browell, Chairman of the Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation at the Teachers College of Columbia University states, Education about alcohol deserves a prominent place in the school curriculum. Education is viewed as a process for the development of proper attitudes, habits, knowledges and skills that involve experiences of greatest value now, and to prepare youth for later happiness and success- â€Å"to live most and serve best. Emphasis on academic achievement seems to be running far too ahead of subject matter designed to make human beings better able to cope with problems associated with wholesome personal and family living and responsible citizenry. (168) Our education systems have placed an emphasis on learning in a classroom. Yet learning how to add numbers and how to write papers are not the only things we must learn to become mature. The point is that there are other things we must learn in a classroom. This includes the understanding of how alcohol can effect our futures. Alcoholism affects those around them. It is important to understand that alcohol can take over a person†s ability to function in a normal manner and that traditional habits can be broken with ease. Again it can be emphasized that there is not one student that is immune to this problem, it affects everyone. We, as a society, do not want our future generations to experience these problems. Our prospective lawyers, doctors, engineers and scientists lie within the youth that attend our colleges and universities. It has been shown that there definitely is a problem that lies within our systems of higher education and things must be done in order to stop this problem. Our future is within our young men and women and for many of them, their success starts with a proper education in order for them to achieve their goals and aspirations. As a society, we need to assist them in their path to prosperity and therefore recognizing the problems that can harm them. Alcohol will probably never disappear on our colleges and universities. Consequently, our primary concern should be to educate our students of the dangers that can affect them. Without this the problem will only get worse. How to cite Alcoholism Issue Within College Society, Papers

Contract With Airbus Corporation Limited †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Contract With Airbus Corporation Limited? Answer: Introducation According to the case study the Qantas Airlines Ltd signed a contract with Airbus Corporation Limited for building a new airplane therefore in this matter both of them hat agreed with the legal bindings and one party has make the offer the other party is accept the contract. In the case of smith and hugs the it has been found where the both of the parties has legally blind with offer and acceptance as per the terms of contract (McKendrick Liu, 2015). The case of Smith v Hughes the court has found that the parties have accept the offer according to the terms of the contract. In the case of Empirnall Holdings Pty Ltd v Machon Paull Partners Pty where the court has found that the parties has legally binding in a contract where they do not have any knowledge about the terms of contract however it make the contract valid. Therefore it can be said that according to the terms of contract an offer and acceptance is one of the important part or terms of the contract where party must make a mutual consideration and sell it legal objects and must have the real intention to from the contract (McKendrick Liu, 2015). Therefore according to the case study the LEstange v Graucob terms of contract has been made where a condition is also made and as per the condition the parties failed to accept the terms of conditions in the contract then it will we reach the contract where the parties will fail to deposit the contract for the innocent Party Can claim the damages due to the breach of the contract (Andrews, 2015). Warranty is another contact each me KN significance as per the terms but it is provided by the aggrieved party who will provide a certain time for the application of the contract and if it is breached then everybody will bound to pay the compensation to the innocent party. Therefore that damages in contract for you to the breach the terms of contract make the damage in the contract law therefore if it is and the identified that the aggrieved party has not able to satisfy the terms of contract and due to breach of the contract the Innocent party has faced any damage therefore the aggrieved p arty will bound to pay the compensation for the damages which occurred by them (McKendrick Liu, 2015). In the case of Tabcorp Holdings Ltd v Bowen Investments Pty Ltd it has been found that the aggrieved party is found to liable for violet the terms of contract where it has provided the warranty and the condition. Therefore innocent party has suffered damage and they claim for the compensation (Andrews, 2015). Application According to the case study the issue has identified about the legal position of the contract where the Qantas Airlines Ltd has made the contract with Airbus Corporation Limited therefore it is necessary to determine the contractual terms of that agreement which has been made between two airlines company as per the case study the contract has formed with the mutual consideration according 545 terms it is incorporated with the agreement (McKendrick Liu, 2015). Therefore one party has made the offer and another party accept the terms where it is clear both of the airline companies has no the conditions of offer and acceptance which are mentioned in the agreement now the according to the signed contract airbus send to Qantas Airlines Ltd package containing a large number of documents which includes the contract itself and examples of the color scheme which will be used. Therefore there is another part in that contract about the limitation of liability which includes that if the Airbus Corporation Limited has made any breach of the terms as per the Contract then they will be liable to kept at $30,000 to the Qantas Airlines Ltd. As this Toms has been mentioned in the agreement therefore the duty has lies for the here this that the mentioned exclusion clause must be get to the knowledge of Qantas Airlines Ltd (Andrews, 2015). Therefore the close of exclusion is not made under the notice where the Qantas Airlines Ltd will be part of this clause when the contact has been made it is necessary that both of the parties will know about every terms and conditions and queries. Now as the Qantas Airlines Ltd has no knowledge about such notice which was placed to them through a big box so the contract is not satisfied the terms which are legally invalid (McKendrick Liu, 2015). Now as per the contract the engineers of Airbus limited has wrongly installed wrong entertainment system where they required of 36 systems they have installed only 34 systems which has been not made according to the contract. Therefore they already breach the contract due to the dissatisfaction of the terms of contract now the Qantas Airlines Ltd is suffering for the mistake by Airbus and they can required for the compensation (McKendrick Liu, 2015). According to the terms of contract the Airbus has breach the terms of the contract therefore the Qantas Airlines Ltd has right to claim the compensation from Airbus for the breach of the contract (Andrews, 2015). As per the case study Frank who is the owner of the shop has fired Bob who used to drink whole day and join the workplace every day late. Therefore Frank has fired him. However when Bob used a false way to collect money by using the Franks shop bank account and using his appliances from his sir and fail to delivery at the customer Angela who transfer the money and want to convert who has want to take legal actions against him. As Frank has no knowledge about such miss representation before the issue is arise when FSrank is liable to pay the amount back or supply the appliances to the customer (McKendrick, 2014). It is a case of misrepresentation of facts was the parties has been entered in a contract with the legal binding agreement without knowing the true facts and form the contract as per the basis of false statement. Therefore it is a misrepresentation. In the case of Bisset v Wilkinson [1927] it has been found that the plaintiff is made a contract agreement with the defendant as per the basis of false or misrepresentation where it carries the legal value of the contract but the intention of the defendant has misconducts. Therefore the case has been found illegal and fail to bind to the contract (McKendrick, 2014). In the case of Smith v Land House Property Corp (1884) the misrepresentation has been found in the desirable tenant where the defendant has agreed in the contract to buy the hotel but later it was been found that the tenant was bankrupt. Therefore the defendant is failed to complete the contract and the plaintiff has sued the defendant as for the failure of specific performan ce. In the case of Edgington v Fitzmaurice (1885) the court of appeal has found that the intention of the statement in the contract is established the misrepresentation where the plaintiff was bound to entitled to signed the contract and the defendant make the promise to complete the contract but intention was illegal. The difference between the misrepresentation and puffery make the legal value of the contract where the property defines as a self evident acceleration which was not appropriate to used for the purpose of advertising (McKendrick, 2014). It is important that misrepresentation must applied by a party of the contract where a false statements is necessary to relate on the other party who will be affected. In the Hill v Rose [1990] case the court has found that the innocent party who enters into the contract but later it has been found that the statement is made on the basis of false or misrepresentation towards the party (Butler, et al. 2013). Therefore applying the misrpresentation there must be an agency who will be the principal and bound to perform on behalf of the authority and the authority not always provide the power to the agent where the third party is involved to work according to the agent but there is a relation between the agent and principal in the miss presentation (Butler, et al. 2013). In the case of Watteau v Fenwick [1983] the court has found that the authority is never allowed to provide any relation with the agent and the principal is need to exist and the third party must enter into that contract where they only depend upon the agent who works behalf of the principal (McKendrick, 2014). According to the case study Gemma is employed under Frank where she knows about the price of dishwasher and makes a third party involvement to sale the dishwasher to her niece. She has knowledge that dishwasher could be sale in $350. However, when Gemma want to sell the dishwasher, Frank authorized her to sell that on $300 as per the basis of misrepresentation. Now when Tom is the customer who wants to buy the dishwasher in $350, he has found it has already sold in $300. Therefore Frank is misrepresentation ha occur by Gemma where Frank was informed with wrong information. Here it can be stated that Gemma has made the fraudulent misrepresentation towards Frank where he could gain the more profit by selling the dishwasher. Now Frank can claim the compensation of $50 from Gemma for committing the fraudulent misrepresentation with Frank to sell the dishwasher in $300 instead of $350 (McKendrick, 2014). Now as per the Bobs activity he was also a sales representative in Franks shop where Bob has make negotiating frequently misrepresentation with Frank. While Frank has fired him for became drunk at the time of work. Therefore there is no liability for Frank about the activities of Bob. Bob made a contract with Angela who wants to buy washing machines for her commercial laundries and she made a contract to buying of 10 washing machines for a price of $1,000 for each (Butler, et al. 2013). She transferred the money in the home appliance bank account. Here Angela and Frank both of them do not have any knowledge about the situation where Angela dont know about that Frank has already fired Bob and where Frank has not make any contract with her while selling the washing machine. Therefore in this matter Frank only liable to make the claim from the damages against Bob (McKendrick, 2014). Conclusion Therefore as per the case studies both Gemma and Bob has fraudulently misrepresentation against Frank and Gemma and Bob both has bound to pay the damage compensation towards Frank on the terms of fraudulent misrepresentation of contract. Reference Andrews, N. (2015). Contract law. Cambridge University Press. Bisset v Wilkinson [1927] AC 177 Butler, D., Christensen, S., Willmott, L., Dixon, B. (2013). Contract Law Case Book. Edgington v Fitzmaurice (1885) 29 Ch D 459 Empirnall Holdings Pty Ltd v Machon Paull Partners Pty Ltd (1988) 14 NSWLR 527 Hill v Rose [1990] VR 129 LEstange v Graucob (1923) 2KB 394 McKendrick, E. (2014). Contract law: text, cases, and materials. Oxford University Press (UK). McKendrick, E., Liu, Q. (2015). Contract Law: Australian Edition. Palgrave Macmillan. Smith v Hughes Court of Queen's Bench [1871] LR 6 QB 597 Smith v Land House Property Corp (1884) 28 Ch D 7 Tabcorp Holdings Ltd v Bowen Investments Pty Ltd [2009] HCA 8 Watteau v Fenwick [1983] 1 QB 346

A Literary Review on Molieres The Imaginary Invalid Essay Example

A Literary Review on Molieres The Imaginary Invalid Paper Moliere’s â€Å"The Imaginary Invalid† is a play about a hypochondriac who is so obsessed with his health and money that he ends up neglecting his family’s needs to better his own. Moliere sets up the exposition of the play in Act I by the apothecary bills Argon is reading aloud. After Toinette, the maid, then enters the scene she sarcastically makes a comment about all of the bills lying on the table. Toinette lets the audience know that Argon is a hypochondriac by rebutting everything he says about his doctors and illnesses with sarcastic comments. For instance, when Argon says, â€Å"You leave my insides alone.† She comes back with, â€Å"I wish you would. You’d be a different man.† We will write a custom essay sample on A Literary Review on Molieres The Imaginary Invalid specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on A Literary Review on Molieres The Imaginary Invalid specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on A Literary Review on Molieres The Imaginary Invalid specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer She also lets the audience know by saying, â€Å"Why, if it wasn’t for him you wouldn’t even know you were ill,† speaking of the apothecary. The main conflict of the play is Argon’s unwillingness to accept that he is not ill and he is, in fact, a very healthy man. This â€Å"illness† leads to the selfishness that he shows his family, especially his daughter Angelica. Later in Act I his â€Å"illnesses† prove to have relevance to the conflict when she speaks of Cleante, the man she loves. Cleante is not a doctor; therefore, Argon will not give his blessings for Angelica to marry him. The conflict of the play was that Argon would not give his blessings for the marriage of his daughter, Angelica, and the man she loves, Cleante. The main characters involved in the conflict besides Angelica and Cleante is Argon, the problem, Toinette and Argon’s brother, Beralde, which resolve the conflict in the end. Argon is involved, as stated earlier, because he will not give his blessings on the marriage. Toinette and Beralde were involved in the resolution to the conflict because they cared about Angelica and her happiness. I believe that Beralde was more involved in the resolution because he felt that his brother was going far with his hypochondria, but still cared for Angelica’s happiness. Argon seemed to over-step the line when he tried to ruin the lives of his daughter just for his mental well being. The steps taken to see that Angelica does not have to marry a man that she simply does not want to marry lead up to the climax of the play. Argon finally realizes who cares about him and who doesn’t when he overhears his wife, Beline, speaking of his death and then Angelica. The climax was in Act III when The denoument of the play was uncertain. The dominant theme of this play is mind versus body. The play is about a wealthy, but self-centered, man who believes that he is constantly ill. However, there is obvious doubt to whether he is really ill or is he is simply imagining his illnesses. Therefore, the primary theme is Argon’s internal struggle of the body versus mind. This theme is developed throughout the play into smaller themes such as greed versus love and death versus life. It was obvious to me that in the play, Argon was only imagining his illnesses and that he was in dire need of attention. Argon had two groups of people giving him this attention, though both very different. One group (the doctors, Beline, and Bonnefoy, the lawyer) wanted his money. The other group (Angelica, Toinette, Beralde, and Clente) only wanted his love. Together these two groups compete for the wealth and love that they need from Argon.

Analyzing the rational actor model of decision essays

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Managerial Economics Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Public Law - Ministerial Responsibilty and Coalition Governments Essay

Public Law - Ministerial Responsibilty and Coalition Governments - Essay Example ? Sociologists believe that this political phenomenon in most states in Britain could also happen in Westminster as officials have introduced â€Å"a semi-proportional electoral system which, it argued, would entail frequent, if not permanent, coalition† although electoral reform seems near to nil. 2 Anent to this phenomena is the recent move of the British parliament to publish a Cabinet Manual that will contain a collection of statutes, court judgments and treaties which they considered as â€Å"first ever written legal convention and precedent on how UK is run†Ã¢â‚¬â€an attempt toward codification. These developments in the political arena must be scrutinized by electorates to be abreast with government official’s plans. It is also in this context that we will explore issues relating to workability of coalition of government viz-a-viz its ministerial duties as well as the proposed codification of conventions, which is largely perceived as unnecessary. 1. Coal ition Government: Workable? That question has been raised by a British columnist at the height of electoral controversies in 2010. It seems that the question remained unsettled since hodge-podge of discourse revived the theme as election nears again. But what is a coalition government? Why does it attempt to question the competence and capacity of the single party’s governance especially in matters that relate to fairness and representation? 3 Coalition government is a composition of several political parties cooperating to â€Å"govern a country or a region.† 4 It removes an elite unitary system of political decision-makings and allowed democratization of political discourse by tolerating convergence and intra-party agreements. It is often a structural consequence whenever there are economic problems, unpeace, and political events such as merging of political parties during election. Practically, coalition government permeates sharing of executive powers and therefore changes the paradigms; broadens political party behaviors; widen operational methods in governance including internal rules of political engagements within the administration. 5 But these changes are neither worrisome nor irrelevant because all countries worldwide evolved from monarchical or unitary toward two or multi-party coalitions to democratize governance. 6 Nousiainen and Blondel (1993) have once asserted that â€Å"coalitions can be more or less extreme, more or less ideologically diverse, and composed of partners who are more or less equal.† The system espoused collective cabinet responsibility and legislated policies are credited to the government. 7 Policies will therefore be attributed to the government collectively and they expect stringent legislative discipline, unless they’d agree to exercise freely their respective votes during decision-making. Last year, UK officials formed a coalition  government after serious discussions between the Conservative Party  and the  Liberal Democrats. 8 Observers however thought that this coalition politics have â€Å"focused so much on selection instead of accountability† perceiving that its political survival is considerably dependent from electoral process. 9 Political critics argued that government coalition, for it to be workable, should be built on trust. Some political shenanigans however bared experiences of alleged serial infidelity of Liberal Democrats, hence it is likely that government will be riddled with mutual