Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, the Savior of Dunkirk

Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, the Savior of Dunkirk Born January 20, 1883, Bertram Home Ramsay was the son of Captain William Ramsay in the British Army. Attending the Royal Colchester Grammar School as a youth, Ramsay elected not to follow his two older brothers into the Army. Instead, he sought a career at sea and joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1898. Posted to the training ship HMS Britannia, he attended what became the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. Graduating in 1899, Ramsay was elevated to midshipman and later received a posting to the cruiser HMS Crescent. In 1903, he took part in British operations in Somaliland and earned recognition for his work with British Army forces shore. Returning home, Ramsay received orders to join the revolutionary new battleship HMS Dreadnought. World War I A modernizer at heart, Ramsay thrived in the increasingly technical Royal Navy. After attending the Naval Signal School in 1909-1910, he received admission to the new Royal Naval War College in 1913. A member of the colleges second class, Ramsay graduated a year later with the rank of lieutenant commander. Returning to the Dreadnought, he was aboard when World War I began in August 1914. Early the following year, he was offered the post of flag lieutenant for the Grand Fleets cruiser commander. Though a prestigious posting, Ramsay declined as he was seeking a command  position of his own. This proved fortuitous as it would have seen him assigned to HMS Defense, which was later lost at the Battle of Jutland. Instead, Ramsay served a brief stint in the signals section at the Admiralty before being given command of the monitor HMS M25 on the Dover Patrol. As the war progressed, he was given command of the destroyer leader HMS Broke. On May 9, 1918, Ramsay took part in Vice-Admiral Roger Keyes Second Ostend Raid. This saw the Royal Navy attempt to block the channels into the port of Ostend. Though the mission was only partly successful, Ramsay was mentioned in despatches for his performance during the operation. Remaining in command of Broke, he carried King George V to France to visit the troops of the British Expeditionary Force. With the conclusion of hostilities, Ramsay was transferred to the staff of Admiral of the Fleet John Jellicoe in 1919. Serving as his flag commander, Ramsay accompanied Jellicoe on a year-long tour of the British Dominions to assess naval strength and advise on policy. Interwar Years Arriving back in Britain, Ramsay was promoted to captain in 1923 and attended senior officers’ war and tactical courses. Returning to sea, he commanded the light cruiser HMS Danae between 1925 and 1927. Coming ashore, Ramsay began a two-year assignment as an instructor at the war college. Towards the end of his tenure, he married Helen Menzies with whom he would ultimately have two sons. Given command of the heavy cruiser HMS Kent, Ramsay was also made chief of staff to Admiral Sir Arthur Waistell, commander in chief of the China Squadron. Remaining abroad until 1931, he was given a teaching post at the Imperial Defense College that July. With the end of his term, Ramsay gained command of the battleship HMS Royal Sovereign in 1933. Two years later, Ramsay became chief of staff to the commander of the Home Fleet, Admiral Sir Roger Backhouse. Though the two men were friends, they differed widely on how the fleet should be administered. While Backhouse firmly believed in centralized control, Ramsay advocated for delegation and decentralization to better allow commanders to act at sea. Clashing on several occasions, Ramsay asked to be relieved after just four months. Inactive for the better part of three years, he declined an assignment to China and later began working on plans to reactivate the Dover Patrol. After reaching the top of the rear-admirals’ list in October 1938, the Royal Navy elected to move him to the Retired List. With relations with Germany deteriorating in 1939, he was coaxed from retirement by Winston Churchill in August and promoted to vice admiral commanding Royal Navy forces at Dover. World War II With the beginning of World War II in September 1939, Ramsay worked to expand his command. In May 1940, as German forces began inflicting a series of defeats on the Allies in the Low Countries and France, he was approached by Churchill to begin planning an evacuation. Meeting at Dover Castle, the two men planned Operation Dynamo which called for a large-scale evacuation of British forces from Dunkirk. Initially hoping to evacuate 45,000 men over two days, the evacuation saw Ramsay employ a massive fleet of disparate vessels which ultimately saved 332,226 men over nine days. Employing the flexible system of command and control that he had advocated in 1935, he rescued a large force which could immediately be put to use defending Britain. For his efforts, Ramsay was knighted. North Africa Through the summer and fall, Ramsay worked to develop plans for opposing Operation Sea Lion (the German invasion of Britain) while the Royal Air Force fought the Battle of Britain in the skies above. With the RAFs victory, the invasion threat quieted. Remaining at Dover until 1942, Ramsay was appointed Naval Force Commander for the invasion of Europe on April 29. As it became clear that the Allies would not be in a position to conduct landings on the continent that year, he was shifted to the Mediterranean as Deputy Naval Commander for the invasion of North Africa. Though he served under Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, Ramsay was responsible for much of the planning and worked with Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Sicily and Normandy As the campaign in North Africa was coming to a successful conclusion, Ramsay was tasked with planning the invasion of Sicily. Leading the eastern task force during the invasion in July 1943, Ramsay coordinated closely with General Sir Bernard Montgomery and provided support once the campaign ashore began. With operation in Sicily winding down, Ramsay was ordered back to Britain to serve as Allied Naval Commander for the invasion of Normandy. Promoted to admiral in October, he began developing plans for a fleet that would ultimately include over 5,000 ships. Developing detailed plans, he delegated key elements to his subordinates and allowed them to act accordingly. As the date for the invasion neared, Ramsay was forced to defuse a situation between Churchill and King George VI as both desired to watch the landings from the light cruiser HMS Belfast. As the cruiser was needed for bombardment duty, he forbade either leader from embarking, stating that their presence put the ship at risk and that they would be needed ashore should key decisions need to be made. Pushing forward, the D-Day landings commenced on June 6, 1944. As Allied troops stormed ashore, Ramsays ships provided fire support and also began aiding in the rapid build-up of men and supplies. Final Weeks Continuing to support operations in Normandy through the summer, Ramsay began advocating for the rapid capture of Antwerp and its sea approaches as he anticipated that ground forces might outrun their supply lines from Normandy. Unconvinced, Eisenhower failed to quickly secure the Scheldt River, which led to the city, and instead pushed forward with Operation Market-Garden in the Netherlands. As a result, a supply crisis did develop which necessitated a protracted fight for the Scheldt. On January 2, 1945, Ramsay, who was in Paris, departed for a meeting with Montgomery in Brussels. Leaving from Toussus-le-Noble, his Lockheed Hudson crashed during takeoff and Ramsay and four others were killed. Following a funeral attended by Eisenhower and Cunningham, Ramsay was buried near Paris at St.-Germain-en-Laye. In recognition of his accomplishments, a statue of Ramsay was erected at Dover Castle, near where he planned the Dunkirk Evacuation, in 2000.

Omar Khayyam Life

Omar Khayyam Life Introduction Omar Khayyam is a name most associated with astrology, poetry and mathematics. He was born on the 18th of may 1048 in Nishapur, Persia, which is presently called Iran. His full names were Ghiyath al-Din Abul-Fath Umar Ibn Ibrahim Al-Nisaburi al-Khayyami, which in literal translation mean ‘tent maker’. Many believe his origins could be Arabic because his name Khayyam has affiliation with the Khayyami tribe who have Arabic ancestry and settled in Persia (Iran).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Omar Khayyam Life specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Much of his younger life is not documented as little is known. However, it is clearly known that he lived in Nishapur for almost his entire life and schooled in Samarqand. His life was mostly shaped by the events that took place during the 11th century, for example, the establishment of the Mesopotamian empire that was a ruthless unstable empire whose mai n goal was to establish a Muslim orthodox state. During this time, Togril Berg who was the current ruler of Seljuq proclaimed himself sultan while in Nishapur where Omar Khayyam grew up. The year 1123 was a sad time in the world, because its when this brilliant scholar died. He was later buried in a mausoleum in Imamzadeh Mahruq in Nishapur (Green 2-3). Contributions His major contribution was in the fields of algebra where he classified most algebraic equations; whereby, top on the list was the third degree equations. He not only tried to classify them, but he also gave solutions to some of them, including the geometric explanation of partial geometric and providing of 13 different types of cubic equations, which can be read in his book, the Maqalat Fial-Jabr Wa Al-Muqabila. This book portrays his brilliance especially when it comes to classification of complex equations. He also made made some discoveries that led to the formulation of the binomial expansion, based on it having a positive integer. This great scholar was also the first mathematician to formulate the binomial theorem as well as its coefficients (Green 2-5). Khayyam also introduced a calendar known as the Al-Tarikh-al-Jalali, which was significant because of its precision. Science is another area that Khayyam excelled in. His studies included gravity methodoligies, whereby he created ways of precisely determining certain gravity and also contributed to the science world with his three publications in metaphysics. This title of the books that he wrote on in this field were the Nauruz-Namah, which was only until recently discovered and the Risala Dar Wujud. Poetry is another area that Khayyam exceled in. His popularity began when his book the ‘Quatrains’ was translated and published in English in the year 1839. His book is now a classic that is used as a literature material.Advertising Looking for essay on biography? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Although the full interpretation of his book may not be really achieved due to the complexity and weight of his mystical messages, his popularity still increases daily due to the richness of his thoughts. In spite of Khayyam writing more than ten books, only thirty monographs have been identified to date. These are in the areas of physics, one geometry and algebra, and four in the field of mathematics (Green 3-8). Family and Education As concerns his family, little is still known about it. Most of the details are based on assumptions. For example, it is believed that he was born in a tent makers family and resided in Balkh town. In the early stages of his education, he was under the guidance of Imam Mowaffaq Nishapuri; one of the celebrated tutors of the time in Khorassan. Later he acquired his education in Samarkand. Later on, he shifted to Bukhara where he got his accreditation in the field of mathematics as well astronomy based in medieval principl es. During his life, he was privileged to travel to important higher learning institutions where he got a chance to enhance his study and also to interact with other scholars. Some of the institutions he visited were the Balkh, Samarqand and Isphahan. During his visits to Samarqand, he was treated with apparent kindness due to his brilliance by high ranking people officials (Green 3-6). Conclusion Khayyam did not always find it easy in life in spite of his superior intellect. In the year 1092, his nightmare began when his funding to run the observatory was stopped because of his earlier support to Malik Shad; the ruler of the time. This meant that his pet project of his calendar reform was frozen. Additionally, during the same time, he received criticism from the Orthodox Muslims who questioned the origins of his concepts by claiming that they were not line with the Muslim teachings; hence, he had to spend a lot of time moving between courts. For him, regaining his honor was very im portant to him. Despite all these, his work will always be remembered for centuries to come as he is known to be a man whose brilliance was ahead of his time. Green, Robert. Omar Khayyam: Much More Than a Poet. Montgomery College  Student Journal Of Science Mathematics 1 (2002). 2-8. Print.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Omar Khayyam Life specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More

Macro & Micro economics. Windows by Microsoft Essay

Macro & Micro economics. Windows by Microsoft - Essay Example The essay tries to focus in the exclusive monopoly power of the popular software company Microsoft. Though very rare, business firms in the contemporary world often enjoy the power of a monopolist seller (Chass, n.d.). A monopolist market structure is primarily characterised with a single seller and many buyers in the industry. The products produced by a monopoly seller may or may not be differentiated. It should be carefully analysed that since the monopoly seller is the only major producer in the market, it faces the entire market demand. Thus, the price or average revenue (AR) curve and the marginal revenue (MR) curve faced by monopolists are always negatively sloped. Figure1: AR and MR Curve of a Monopoly Producer AR, MR Price or Average Revenue Curve (P or AR) Marginal Revenue Curve (MR) Quantity (Source: Authors Creation) The above diagram shows the AR and MR curve faced by a monopolist. A monopolist seller is a ‘price maker’ in the industry.... The policies of the government in an economy are also influenced by the power and decisions of a monopolist in the market. Microsoft Behaviour Microsoft Corporation is a famous American software company with its headquarters in Washington. At the current market conditions, business firms can never imagine to operate without the use of computers. The rise in the level of literacy in both developed and developing economies have increased the use of computers for both commercial and non commercial purposes with time. Most of the computers in the modern world comprise of an operating system of Microsoft. Such technical products supply has made Microsoft behave like a monopolist in the market. In 4th April 2000, the Federal government claimed that Microsoft Corporation has violated the antitrust laws in the market. Antitrust laws are the laws set with the mixture of federal and state government laws. The antitrust laws are strongly implemented on all the business organizations in the mode rn world because such laws prevents the economy from the unfair trade practices of monopoly business firms and promotes competition in the economy. It is believed by economists and analysts that rise in market competition in the business segments would help to augment the net social welfare in the economy (Manne, 2012). Bundling of Netscape and Media Player The Federal Justice department accused Microsoft Corporation for altering the satisfaction of the consumers by shifting competition in the software marketplaces in particular with the disbursement of the Netscape browser. Microsoft desired to bundle its business with the famous company of web browser Internet Explorer. The company

Take-Home Exam Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Take-Home Exam - Term Paper Example In other words, shots must record what is in a scene for a successful video production to take place. For instance, the short scenes below are taken for the movie gossip girl. Establishing shot – when an action is to take place in a hall, every area or point that would be used in the process of video production are covered first before the exact shooting begins. For instance, there is random aerial coverage of a city of investigation in the CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) Productions. Wide shot – a boy standing leaning on the wall, and the shot reveals his feet almost close to the bottom of the frame and his head close to the top of the frame. The boy’s height appears to consume almost the whole of the width of the shot. Medium shot- a girl standing next to a window, her head can be seen, part of her arms, a small part of the window and that of the wall around. Her gestures can be seen though not clearly. More attention of the shot is on the girl more than the surrounding environment or the setting. Medium close-up – the girl standing next to the window is brought out through a slightly sharp attention. The camera brings her out more clearly but still section of her arms, head and belly still visible. I would prefer to produce an action movie but with romantic scenes. The sources of my ideas would be the professionals in the movie production industry, newspapers and magazines, a collection of movies may be in a movie store. The available resources would also contribute significantly in determining the type of movie to produce. This is because it is important to match the depth of the available resources with the requirement of a particular genre of a movie. There are movies that are expensive to produce since they require many resources (Aronson, 2006). It involves the planning of the movie project in terms of creating

When is it important for innovators to protect their intellectual Essay

When is it important for innovators to protect their intellectual property Compare and contrast three different approaches to the protection of intellectual pr - Essay Example Protection for intellectual property leads to a healthy competition and enhances value and quality of products, thereby promoting economic growth by means of technological development and enriched cultural advancement. It opens fresh trade avenues and enhance standard of living. The governments have to act and ensure implementation of intellectual property system to sustain businesses in a theft free environment to enable steady growth (Sebban, Guy 2005). Intellectual property is the name given to any new product or design or process and creative work of art or literature. Any invention or innovation involves dedicated effort on the part of an inventor who spends long hours in research and development. In addition, a significant amount of expenditure is also incurred towards development of new and innovative products or designs. If not protected and free copying is allowed, the inventor or innovator would soon get de-motivated, bringing stagnation to further development. Thus, protection of intellectual property assumes paramount importance. Intellectual property protection is essential to all businesses to exploit their new ideas and articles in the market and prevent piracy and theft by others. All art works also need to be credited for their creativity to enhance cultural growth (Sebban, Guy 2005). The protection methods can be broadly classified as ‘formal or institutional’ and ‘strategic’. Formal protection methods include patent, trade secret, trade mark, and copyright, while strategic methods cover agreements of confidentiality, secrecy, lead and complexity (Iandiorio, Joseph S 1995). In the subsequent paragraphs, we would discuss, in detail, two formal methods, namely, patent and copyright, and one strategic method, namely, confidentiality agreement, bringing out differences, merits and demerits of each. A ‘patent’ is a grant from a country’s government that provides security or protection to a new invention or innovation by an

Impact of Information Technology on Human Resources

Impact of Information Technology on Human Resources CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND OF THE TOPIC Technology has affected every aspect of human life. Every field of business has been affected by it. It has changed the ways of living of human ,the way we communicate, the way we learn, the way think. It has a great impact on private and business sector as well. It provides huge opportunities to help the development of business. Due to technology many impossible things have been become very easier for businessmen. It has reduced the large need of employees, but increased the efficiency of work. In past times which work required a lot of people and a lot of time to be completed, nowadays only single person finish that work in just few minutes. For example, in past time the work of typing required many people to do that work, but now only a man can do that work in just few seconds. So we see how technology is affecting our business. Human resource management also has its great influence. Technology has affected directly organizations and HR functions. It has some positive and negative influences on HRM organizations and its functions. In this dissertation researcher have going to discuss the influence of information technology and telecommunications on human resource management. What are its good and bad effects on HRM, researcher will discuss in this dissertation. A) POSITIVE IMPACTS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS ON HRM In past few years it was a belief that human resource managers use technology only to fulfill few needs such as administrative tasks. But nowadays it is no longer like this, these days the whole structure of business depends upon technology. A single step cannot be taken further without the think of information technology. ‘The future growth and development of business will depend on the use knowledge of technology, information technology and services provided by them (Barley 1996). So these days information technology is helping businesses to grow and to develop on a large scale. It helps managers to recruit efficient employees, to save their personal information, for the motivation and good leadership if the employees, to finding new techniques of work, to increase profit and for future planning for business. So lets discuss the positive impacts of technology on human resource management: Recruitment of new employees: As we see these days maximum people rely on the internet, and according to the predictions of researchers number of people who use internet is growing in millions every year. ‘Well educated people, who have skills and full of ambitions, regular working with information technology and communication, have more influence of information technology (Bola and Truman, 2003). So many companies are taking advantage of this thing; they are recruiting efficient, skilled and passionate people online according to their needs. This procedure of recruitment is very much beneficial for the employers, one side it provides those efficient employees and on the other hand it is very cheaper and the third thing is it is a very quicker way of recruitment. By postal or any other way only limited people can be informed for the companys requirement, but via internet hundreds of people can be attracted by your job and company. So we see information technology has made recruitments very easier. To save employees full data: Because of information technology the whole data of each employee can be saved for years. Means even after 50 year it can be confirmed that who worked on which post that time. An employees personal details, job title, post, pay, duty hours etc can be saved for future use. Even his or her performance at work also can be measured, an organization can come to know that who is performing in the favor of the company and when time comes he or she can get promotion or can be fired from the job due to bad performance. On the other hand organizations required to save employees skills, work experience, his efficiency on work and his performance in previous job and his salary for that job. These all things organization can get through internet can save on their system. This information that firm can use in future, and if any employee needs any additional training then that firm can arrange it for him. Organizations are finding new ways of work: Because of developments of technology and communications now organizations are finding new advanced ways of work. ‘Communications and information technology is providing a wide range of opportunities to organizations to perform well (Lindstrome, mob erg and Rapp, 1997). These days organizations are adopting new ways of ways of work which are more efficient, advanced, and profitable for them. By using these ways they are getting more productivity and more presence of employees at work. Example: The most relative of changing ways of work due to technology is teleporting, in which method an employee of an organization can do his or her job sitting at home even in his bed. ‘In this term of work, work comes to the worker not worker goes to the work (Niles, 1998). Because of this term of work an organization can save a lot of money. If they will do work at offices then organization would have to provide a lot of facilities to the employees, like a table, chair, computer, and a lot of other things but in teleconferencing an organization can save the cost of all these things. There is another term of work which is being used in project oriented work with subcontracting. Today most skilled and ambitious people do not want to be bound with a company and organizations also hire those people who are necessary for their projects they need their assistance for work just for a limited time of period. So those people are not formal members of the company. It is very beneficial for the firms because they can get 100% benefits of the skills of that man, and they need not to employee him for a long time and if firm starts a new project then they can hire another man required to that project. ‘A huge number of people who work for an particular organization may be still work for the same job in future, but a slowly growing small number of people will not work like this. Part timer workers are the contractors for a limited period of time for an organization, (Ducker, 2001). Better information management Because of information technology and communications storage of data and information has become so easier. IT is providing a lot of possibilities for the betterment of information management in organizations. ‘By using IT an organization can protect its information from outside world and IT also provides simple storage, maintenance, and sharing of information among organizations members. These all are the essential tasks for a better information management (Marched et al. 2001). Information technology helps to improve the performance of a business so to improve the performances. For the motivation of employees: Information technology helps organizations to motivate its employees for better performance. They can offer their employees much psychological, financial reward. An organization can offer many beneficial policies to its employees, by these rewards an employee tends to be honest with his work the organization can achieve its goals because without the co-operation of employees organization cannot be successful. ‘Because of information technology we can think of many changes about the motivation of an organization employees (Bola and Truman, 2003). So we can say that information technology helps a lot for the motivation of the employees, an organization can allow them to know how it is going to satisfy its employees. Like this it can attract other firms skilled employees who are unsatisfied with their firm or organization. Technology used in training of employees: Nowadays many companies required employees trained with modern techniques of information technology because technology is developing with a fast pace and to compete in the industry organizations need employees with the knowledge of modern technology. Organization using technology for the training of employees, they can train them according to their requirements in a particular skill and they can be used for organizations favor and these trained workers can proved to be a profitable asset for the organization. Organizations need not to recruit a large number of employees, who are not perfect for that job, organization can spent money in a positive manner instead of giving wages to those employees who are not useful for them. Another term is related to that is a company can give training of more than one to a single person, it is beneficial for them in case of one of the employees left the job who was working on a particular project then organization can recruit another employee from their own organization on the same post rather than finding another employee with the same skills, wasting time. Like this an organization can save a lot of time and money. More profit for the organizations: Today we can reduce the cost of organization with the effective use of information technology and the profitability of the organizations is increasing day by day with more improved technologies. There are a lot of things to get more profit for instance, these days due to technology; recruitment of people has been decreased. In past organizations had to recruit employees in a large number, their speed of working was less, but organization had to pay them a lot of money without getting much profit. But these days because technology has developed on a large scale so a large part of work which was done by people in past, now days by developments in technology has been done by fewer employees in a very short time period. Due to advancement in technology many HR functions such as recruitment of employees can be performed with less usage of time and resources and organizations can find easily the right persons for their jobs. Another thing is organizations can always keep an eye on the performance of employees, due to this employee cannot shirk work. He gives his 100%. So like this an organization can get more profit, and more productivity. So all these are the positive impacts of Information technology and communication but there are some negative impacts also. So lets discuss those too. B) NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FIELD OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS There are many positive influences of speedily improving information technology but there also some negative effects of it. Due to the developments in this field of business every aspect has been changed, strategy of work, planning of work etc. and it is continuously changing even in present too. So for employees who are working with the old techniques, it is hard to understand new techniques of working. Those organizations which do not adopt new method cannot meet the ever changing requirements of the industry and it is also very hard for an organization to find out right skilled person for them, because persons with the knowledge of latest technology are rare. Technology is directly affecting the functions of human resource management. So these all things are discussed here: Cutting jobs: As we have discussed above that technology is very cheaper and very fast, by technology any type of work can be done quickly as compare to men. So in past a huge number of employees had been recruiting. But nowadays organizations need a few employees with proper skill. As manpower planning a human being is referred as a machine in this technological era means if he is working or giving profit then its ok otherwise through him out. It is not fault of organizations or human beings rather it is the requirement of todays world. Because of technological developments organizations require less but skilled person for employment to compete the world. An organization cannot tolerate the burden of overstaffing, because it is wastage of money, so organizations are cutting jobs. This action gives harassment to many people, especially to them who were old employees of the firm, having comparatively less knowledge of information technology, but now companies have to kick them out, so they do not h ave any other way of survival. People are compelled to study technology. The competition among todays generation has been increased. They have to do hard work to have a good job, but cutting in jobs harass them. Unsatisfied employees of the company: Organizations are using advanced technology in their work to get more profit and to be more efficient but this makes many employees unsatisfied and angry with the organization because they do not know about that technology and how to deal with that, and they also afraid of to lose their job. So it results in strike or other activities like this which affect the whole structure of the organization. The latest example is ‘royal mails strike and strikes in bus and train departments because all these companies want to adopt new and advanced techniques but their employees are unsatisfied with them. The reason is same because they do not know how to deal with rapid changes in firms technology, they are also afraid of losing their jobs. Skill shortage for organizations: As we know that using new technology in todays era is necessary for organizations, but to use that technology properly organizations need proper skilled persons for each project but there is a shortage of skilled persons for the organizations, because people are known to last techniques of work, and if an organization immediately decides to adopt new technology then it results in shortage of skilled workers. For example, in last time period, Australian organization experienced growth in economic era, but suddenly they also faced crises due to the same problem of skill shortage as they want to adopt new technologies. So this thing is more challenging for the organizations, because on one time they have to consider about so many things, like they have to manage their staff properly, have to satisfy the needs of their staff, and have to maintain themselves in this competitive industry. Expenditure on employees for further training: To get employees with proper skills organizations have to train people themselves with new technology, it costs a lot. Organization spend a lot of money on the training of people, but it is not guaranteed that all of them who are taking training will be able to perform a good job, will stay in your company and work with you for long time. All these things are not guaranteed. Moreover, other thing is technology is changing day by day, so in future a new technology can be introduced so it will cost again for the organization to retrain their employees with these changes, so all these factors are affecting organizations. Hard to do for old people: If a company is adopting new technology, but its old employees who are working with them for a long time cannot tolerate this change because they are working with old techniques and new ones are difficult to understand for them. On the other hand, organizations also not want to train those people because they want to use new ideas from new generation and if organization will train those old people then it will cost them a lot because those people are near to retirement and spending money on them will be wastage. Next thing is due to changes in technology organizations are transforming people to one side to another side. So it irritates them a lot and results in strike etc. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Performance management is the process of creating a work environment or setting in which people are enabled to perform to the best of their abilities. Performance management is a whole work system that begins when a job is defined as needed. It ends when an employee leaves your organization. Many writers and consultants are using the term â€Å"performance management† as a substitution for the traditional appraisal system. I encourage you to think of the term in this broader work system context. A performance management system includes the following actions. Develop clear job descriptions. Select appropriate people with an appropriate selection process. Negotiate requirements and accomplishment-based performance standards, outcomes, and measures. vProvide effective orientation, education, and training. Provide on-going coaching and feedback. As companies reorganize to gain competitive edge, human resources plays a key role in helping companies deal with a fast-changing competitive environment and the greater demand for quality employees. Effectively managing and utilizing people. Increasing the innovation, creativity and flexibility necessary to enhance competitiveness. Applying new approaches to work process design, succession planning, career development and inter-organizational mobility. Managing the implementation and integration of technology through improved staffing, training and communication with employees. PROBLEM STATEMENT To explore how much information technology is deeply rooted in the organization and effect the efficiency of employees in ICI Paints. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY To find out the impacts of information technology on the ICI paints. To see the impact of independent variables i.e., data processing, work burden, record keeping, on the dependent variable efficiency of employees in ICI Paints. In this study researcher try to find out to what extent the work has become easy because of the use of computer based information technology in ICI Paints. HYPOTHESIS H1Information Technology is designed to make people more effective and efficient when performing daily activities. HoInformation Technology is not designed to make people more effective and efficient when performing daily activities. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY It has great advantage for H.R. It is useful for human resource department as well as executive level management. It has benefit of future and future decisions. It is useful for common people who are working in Human Resource Department and Accounts Department. It is helpful for maintaining records and retrieving records. It gives analysis reports of the employees. It helps for H.R managers for hiring the new employees in particular job. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Purpose of this research is to understand and to analyze the process of development of I.T to enhance the efficiency of H.R, so as to have better understanding of the MIS and to make an informed judgment about the future decisions. The purpose of this evaluation is to identify strengths and weaknesses of the process of development of I.T in HRM. Main purpose is to achieve future objectives of the organization. CHAPTER2 LITERATURE REVIEW To understand the nature of the IT impact on human resource and firm performance, we must consider the fit between the characteristics of the IT and the users tasks (Goodhue and Thompson 1995). Since the primary responsibility of professionals in public accounting firms involves information-intensive activities (Auditing Concepts Committee [ACC] 1972) such as gathering, organizing, processing, evaluating, and presenting data, the use of IT is likely to improve the productivity of accounting professionals (Pinsonneault and Rivard 1998). Teamwork is critical in a public accounting firm as audit engagements are performed by teams composed of professionals at different ranks. Therefore, the use of groupware technology is also expected to improve work collaboration and communication within teams, and thus enhance their productivity (Ellis et al. 1991). Although previous IT research has examined the impact of IT investments on firm performance in different industries such as manufacturing (Barua et al. 1995), banking (Parsons et al. 1993), insurance (Francalanci and Galal 1998), healthcare (Menon et al. 2000), and retailing (Reardon et al. 1996), empirical research has not examined the professional services industry, such as public accounting firms, in which information and knowledge work play a prominent role. Hence, examining the impact of IT implementation on public accounting firm productivity is of considerable interest to both academic inquiry and practice. Exploration of the productivity impact of IT implementation requires the recognition that the conversion from IT expenditure to business performance enhancement is a longitudinal process (Soh and Markus 1995). Proper IT management is essential to convert IT expenditure to IT assets. Appropriate use of IT assets generates organizational innovations and redesigned business processes, and favorable competitive dynamics enable improved organizational performance due to these organizational innovations. Davern and Kauffman (2000) extended this IT conversion process sequence to emphasize the importance of considering the impact of IT planning and selection activities on realized IT value. A few field studies have explored the longitudinal IT conversion process to identify the factors at different points of the process that determine the success of IT adoption. Venkatesh and Davis (2000) found that at different time points before and after IT implementation, factors such as subjective norm, voluntariness, job relevance, and output quality consistently influence users perceptions about the usefulness of the systems. Bergeron and Raymond (1997) reported that organizational support, implementation process, and control procedures impacted the initial realization of benefits from Electronic Data Inter exchange (EDI) adoption, but three years later, only organizational support and control procedures remained significant. While these studies have examined factors that may impact the IT value creation process, they did not estimate the improvement in firm performance, if any, due to IT implementation. Lucas et al. (1996) conducted a case study of the introduction of a financial imaging system at Merrill Lynch. Comparing the data flow diagrams of the old and the new business processes, they identified changes in organization structure, workflows, and operations. They reported improvement in customer service and reduction in costs. However, they did not conduct any statistical evaluation of improvement in firm performance after IT implementation. Some cross-sectional studies of IT impact have compared the business performance of firms with IT to those without IT, and statistically estimated the impact. Using data from Hardees fast food chain, Banker et al. (1990) compared the performance of the restaurants deploying the Positran technology (a computerized cash register point-of-sale and order-coordination technology) to those without Positran. They found that the use of the Positran technology is associated with a significantly greater productivity for stores with high diversity of sales. Analyzing data for 107 banks, Pennings (1995) found that the banks with ATM adoptions incurred significantly less non personnel operating expenses than those without. There are several IT productivity studies that evaluate the contribution of IT as an input factor in the production function, for example, Brynjolfsson and Hitt (1995) and Barua and Lee (1997) estimated the economic production function using cross-sectional data to evaluate the marginal contribution of IT on output. Wang et al. (1997) and Shafer and Byrd (2000) employed DEA to evaluate the role of IT investments in firm production. Our research differs from this stream of research in two important ways. We consider EU adoption as an event and evaluate the extent to which it shifts the production function for a firm, instead of the marginal contribution of the IT input that differs cross-sectional. Thus, we make a longitudinal instead of cross-sectional comparison of the impact of IT implementation. For IT to positively impact a users performance there should be a good fit between the IT and the users tasks (Goodhue 1995). In addition, training is a significant determinant of the IT users effectiveness (Igbaria 1990). The FIRM has designed the new IT program to fit the requirements of its professionals, and enforced the training in the use of the software. Our field interviews suggest that the IT changes had a positive impact on the auditors performance. Since an audit team is composed of professionals at different ranks (such as managers, seniors, and juniors) with different job responsibilities (Carmichael and Willingham 1989), IT adoption may benefit audit professionals at different ranks in different ways. IT Impact on Auditors The primary tasks that junior auditors perform are assigned audit procedures and preparation of working papers. Most of these tasks are relatively repetitive and involve substantial calculations and referencing across different accounts. Computer applications can automate such structured tasks and substantially reduce the processing time (Abbe and King 1988). In addition, the reduction in monotone work allows individuals to concentrate on more complex tasks and enhance their individual performance (Giuliano 1982). Our field interviews indicate that the principal benefits to a junior auditor from the IT changes are the savings in effort and the reduction in errors afforded by the electronic preparation of working papers. Incorrect computation is one of the major causes for misstatement (Bell et al. 1998), and by reducing such errors; IT use also benefits other audit team members. A junior auditor describes his experience using the new computerized systems as follows: The most important benefit to me is that I can develop the working papers electronically. Without the computer, I have to write down all the numbers by hand and make difficult calculations using a calculator. Sometimes I need to repeat the same entry several times on different sheets. For example, the amount of cash may appear on the balance sheet, the working trial balance, the cash flow schedule, the bank reconciliation and so on, and all the numbers are the same or related. I have to be very careful when I write those numbers down. It is very tedious! However, using the audit software, I only need to key in the entry once and make the appropriate choice. Then, all the related numbers are generated automatically and cross-referenced, and there is no need to punch any keys on a calculator. With a computer, my working hours on an engagement can be reduced by more than half of that without the computer. As the middle-level member of an audit team, a senior auditor assists in audit plan development, organization of audit activities, and supervision and review of the work of junior auditors. The firms audit software organized all required audit procedures in a common list and cross-referenced them to items in the working papers. Since electronic presentation of information facilitates users information acquisition (Jones et al. 1993), a senior auditor is likely to benefit from the convenient information gathering and organization enabled by the new software. A senior in the FIRM describes her favorite IT helper as follows: I like to use the audit software to edit my audit plan and programs. It helps me get organized. The software lists all the necessary planning items for me, so I dont need to worry about missing an important element. All related forms are available by clicking a button, which is really convenient. In addition, we also have a database of document templates that I can use for almost all occasions. IT Impact on Managers As supervisors and reviewers, audit managers do not benefit directly from the audit automation process, except for the convenience of computer-based presentation of information. Analyzing survey data from 260 public managers, Kraemer et al. (1993) found that managers perceived computer-based information to be more useful. Since the firms audit software organizes all audit evidence collected by juniors and seniors in an electronic format, audit managers are likely to be more effective when reviewing such data. Since the order of audit working paper documentation can impact the decision of the reviewers (Ricchiute 1992), electronic working papers that comply with a regular organization should provide more consistent audit decision quality. An audit manager expresses his support for electronic working papers as follows: I dont use many functions of electronic working paper software. I just review its output. However, I do enjoy the neat screen output because everything is clear. Also, every item is cross-referenced which makes it easy for me to trace them. I can easily switch around and search for the items I want to see. In the Notes, the FIRM includes various local and international databases regarding companies, industries, and regulations. Managers can easily search for information relevant to a certain client to help them perform analytical review (Cohen et al. 2000). In addition, the information in the databases is more reliable and objective (Reimers and Fennema 1999). The FIRM has also created some exclusive case databases that can be shared by its professionals. Such knowledge-sharing applications have been found to improve the quality of decision making (Orlikowski 1997). A manager describes his experience as follows: Our Notes database has helped me increase my professional knowledge. We share our case experience, and business regulations using the database. It helps a lot in problem solving and keeps me updated on the current trend. IT Impact at the Business Process Level A current trend is to create a paperless office environment that replaces paper documents with electronic documents so that information can be accessed easily and with much less effort. In the practitioner-oriented literature, advantages of a paperless office in improving work efficiency and reducing operating costs have been reported (Hunton 1994). Together with the audit software, the FIRM created a client database to store all related audit files for each client. The documents in the database can be easily retrieved by a search function or with associated links. Consequently, auditors in the same team can share audit files and significantly reduce the coordination effort of the senior auditors (Salamasick et al. 1995). An audit senior at the FIRM also observed that database storage allows quick reference and modification from previous audit plans and reports for the client and, consequently, work hours for a client can be reduced significantly. In addition, the FIRM uses Notes as a tool to manage internal resources and documents to save time and increase effectiveness. IT Impact at the Work Group Level A professional service firm stands to benefit substantially from the knowledge-sharing applications (Vandenbosch and Ginzberg 1996). The Professional Development Department in the FIRM updates the Notes database everyday and communicates the update to everyone by email. To encourage audit professionals to collaborate, a Question and Answer electronic bulletin board in the Notes was set up for the discussion of all types of work-related questions. The Professional Development Department checks the board periodically and ensures responses to all the questions. Network applications that enable real-time information circulation can also facilitate communications efficiency in a public accounting firm (Zarowin 1994). Email is the most important network application for the professionals in the FIRM to communicate with each other, clients, and overseas colle

Simmel Sociability Essay -- Sociology

The problem of modern leisure has, throughout the years, been a well-discussed topic among many sociologists. Sociability, in this case, is one of the most universal forms of leisure that will be discussed in this essay. The theoretical framework for this discussion is provided by the sociological insights of Georg Simmel (1858-1918) as he argues that the â€Å"tumult of the metropolis† (cited in Frisby 1989, p80) creates inner barriers between people and suggests that â€Å"sociability† can surpass this problem. According to Frisby (1989), Simmel states that the city life has transformed the struggle with nature for livelihood into a struggle with other human beings for gain. This is further discussed as Frisby (1989) and Giulianotti (2005) describes how sociability can transcend this problem according to Simmel’s sociability theory. Let’s begin by defining what sociability is. According to Simmel, sociability is ‘the pure form, the free-playing interacting interdependence of individuals’ that is ‘freed from substance’ (Simmel as cited in Frisby 1989, p.87). It is therefore oriented complet...