Tuesday, January 28, 2020

The Performance Appraisal: Advantages and Disadvantages

The Performance Appraisal: Advantages and Disadvantages Shari M. Kern   The performance assessment is the procedure through which employee performance is assessed, feedback is provided to the employee, and corrective action plans are designed (Youssef, 2015, Section 6.2, What is Performance Appraisal and Why is it Important? para 1). Performance appraisal is deemed an important means for decision-making needs of todays businesses. The performance appraisal is the method by which businesses appraise job performance. Typically, a performance appraisal system involves a manager to assess each employees performance corresponding to performance benchmarks that have previously been set up over a period of time. Performance appraisal methods also present a foundation for forecasting improvement, as well as a means for determining merit, raises, new positions within the business and even dismissals. Strategic Advantage of Performance Appraisals One of the several advantages of performance appraisal is, in the hustle and hectic working life, it extends a valuable opportunity for a manager and subordinate to have break for a private conversation about matters positive or negative that otherwise may not be spoken about. Performance appraisal proposes a good effort to focus on job accomplishments and targets, to discern and improve current problems, and to inspire improved future performance. For example, performance appraisals can have a profound effect on motivation and morale, it offers an excellent opportunity for managers to recognize and reach an agreement on individual training and development necessities, and it can examine the success of a businesss recruitment and orientation procedures. The Potential Forms of Bias Within Appraisals Systems Bias can impact employee performance appraisals in extraordinarily damaging ways. A good manager must be impartial about the performance of their workers. A performance appraisal bias can misrepresent a managers and a businesss assessment of how a worker is doing. Some biases are stereotyping (inaccurate results against certain employees belonging to a group), halo effect (erroneous judgments about an employee based on a limited number of performance dimensions), self-fulling prophecies (We tend to see what we expect to see. Research shows that when other things are equal, if managers poorly judge employees to be failures and expect these employees to fail, then the employees are likely to fail. On the other hand, if a manager believes in an employee and expects him or her to succeed, then he or she will be likely to succeed), and the fundamental attribution error (Employee blames others for their failures but do not give them enough credit for their successes. If left unchecked, thi s common attributional bias can be detrimental to performance appraisal) (Youssef, 2015, Section 6.6, Opportunities, Challenges and Recent Developments in Performance Management, para 16). Performance Appraisals Contribute to the Achievement of Strategic Objectives The success of a performance appraisal can be assessed in how good it accomplishes its strategic objectives. Performance objectives determine how a business strategy will be attained. Performance objectives also perform a key function in distinguishing the final outcomes required because of employees intense work and commitment. Performance objectives are a requirement in aligning well-defined objectives for employees. Performance objectives challenge employees to attain the greatest outcomes to encourage business development and make constant progress to meet the challenges and shifting demands of the marketplace. Performance objectives should be well-defined and direct engagement. Knowing the strategic objectives in performance appraisals can support a business to modify performance appraisals to meet business desires. In conclusion, performance appraisal is deemed an important tool for decision-making needs of todays businesses. The performance appraisal is the method by which businesses appraise job performance. When done successfully, employee performance appraisals are incredibly advantageous to the efficiency of a business. Performance appraisals offer a business with the methods to gather data and share business and specific objectives to each employee. These appraisals are methods that can make all employees more beneficial and involved in their work and thus make the business more prosperous. References Youssef, C. (2015). Human resource management. (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Technology in Transportation Essay -- Computers Machines Papers

Technology in Transportation Throughout history, getting things (and people) where they need to go has been a pretty basic need. The Romans needed to move stone to build their aqueducts; the nobles wanted luxury spices and silks brought to them from far off lands; ancient cities needed to move vegetables and grains from the farms, to storage, and then to the cities to feed the populace. Transportation has always been one of the backbones of every great civilization, without the ability to move goods long distances, your 'culture' was only the distance you could go conveniently to get what was necessary for survival that you could not produce. The industry boomed during the railroading system and hasn't slowed since. First, there were ships and horse-drawn carriages, then cars, now huge 40 ton trucks and jumbo air-liners. In today's changing business environment, information technology plays an incredibly important role in almost every aspect of the day to day life of almost every industry. The transportation industry is, of course, no different. From the transport of goods from manufacture, to warehousing, to retail, to end-user, the industry relies on information technology to get things done. The transportation of people is the exact same; incredibly important to get done yet impossible without the impact of information technology. Technology in Moving People The transportation industry (airline, railway, bus transit, automobile rental agencies) has undergone enormous changes in the way its customers purchase tickets and place reservations. The continuing popularity in e-commerce combined with the widespread increase in the number of people with internet access has caused an explosion in the number of... ...t an amazing 10% per quarter. An example trend that is quickly developing in the freight cargo industry is the leasing of freight aircrafts to different airlines. The aircraft, crew, insurance and maintenance is included in the leasing. Works Cited http://www.aaafoundation.org. revised 15 March 2004. American Automobile Association. accessed 15 March 2004. http://www.airbus.com. revised 2004. Airbus Corporation. accessed 13 March 2004. http://www.e-travel.com. revised 2004. Amadaeus Global Travel Distribution. accessed 14 March 2004. http://www.msn.com. revised 2004. Microsoft Corporation. accessed 15 March 2004. http://www.redprairie.com/Knowledge/whitepapers.asp#WMCSchapt. revised 2004. Superior Logistix Results, Inc. accessed 16 March 2004. http://www.trucker.com revised 2004. Primedia Business Magazines and Media. Accessed 14 March 2004

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Moral Attitueds Toward the Thousand and One Night

The entire basis for The Thousand and One Knights is Shahrayar has become exhausted by the infidelity of his wife and that of his brother's. Scheherazade's purpose for the tales is to show the king that not all women are bad and that men can be evil sometimes too. There are many women in the tales who act virtuously (the she-demon in the second merchant's tale, the farmer's daughter in the third merchant's tale, etc. ). Of course, the societal perception of women is very different from today. In the tale of the farmer who understands animals, he eventually beats the wife black and blue, she learns obedience, and â€Å"everyone was happy. While this aspect of society is shown, the morality of women is not attacked or praised: it is shown as being variable, just like any person's. I have not noticed any overt racial discrimination in the tales. Of course, people from different lands or regions are portrayed as strange or downright evil, but there isn't any racism the way we would consider it. The Blackamoors are simply the Arabian people from the area farther west than the setting for the tales (the name for the Moors- an Arab/Berber people comes from this). The tales of the ox and the donkey The vizier fears that his daughter will merely suffer. True to his character and to his role, he does not say so directly, but instead tells her a story of a donkey who, proud of his intelligence, schemes to trick the master of the farm into excusing the sweet, simple ox from labor. The scheme works, but not as the donkey expected. The wealthy farmer orders the donkey driven into the field to work in the ox's place. In using a story to warn Shahrazad, the vizier engages in narrative imagining, a form of thinking before acting. In trying to change her mind through story, he unwittingly endorses the very strategy he asks her to reject–to try to change the king's mind through stories. Narrative imagining–story–is the fundamental instrument of thought. Rational capacities depend upon it. It is our chief means of looking into the future, of predicting, of planning, and of explaining. It is a literary capacity indispensable to human cognition generally. This is the first way in which the mind is essentially literary. The vizier asks Shahrazad to think before acting by imagining a story and then evaluating it. He traces the consequence of her action forward to disaster, implying that Shahrazad should abandon her plan. In doing so, he puts to domestic use a fundamental cognitive activity: story.

Friday, January 3, 2020

Analysis Of The Poem Spring Offensive - 1055 Words

â€Å"Some men stand, unable to sleep like the rest† (Spring Offensive). This shows some unrest in the men themselves as well as the looming battle about to ensue. The fifth and sixth line signify that nature is abruptly becoming less kind to the soldiers and many of the men feel that they may die on this hill. However there is another mood change at lines six and seven: â€Å"Nature shows a smiling face again, the ‘long grass swirled’ in the ‘May breeze’† (Spring Offensive). The entire stanza â€Å"ebbs and flows† with nature’s changing moods. The next part of the poem still maintains this tranquil mood by painting vivid images of nature (Spring Offensive). The troops are walking through a meadow and buttercups become stuck to the men’s shoes making them â€Å"Blessed with gold.† This is a direct reference to when Owen said that his brother’s shoes â€Å"are blessed with gold’† after some flower s became glued to his shoes. The flowers â€Å"breathe like trees unstirred† creating a strong link between man and nature (Spring Offensive). Then suddenly, the soldiers start to get a bad feeling breaking the peaceful tone yet again. First, in line nineteen the â€Å"‘May breeze’ becomes ‘a cold gust’† (Spring Offensive). The sun becomes â€Å"like a friend with whom their love is done’† (Spring Offensive). It states in line twenty-five that nature is becoming unforgiving. The fourth stanza marks the start of the battle and in the heat of battle, everything becomes warped. The sky burns â€Å"with fury against them’† and theShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Poem Spring Offensive 1155 Words   |  5 Pages Another one of Owen’s famous poems, â€Å"Spring Offensive†, refers to a surprise attack on enemy forces that turns into a bloodbath. In the first line Owen immediately lays out the setting. The soldiers are on a hill and â€Å"nature [is] in [a] beneficent mood† (Spring Offensive). in the second line he says that this puts the soldiers in a beneficial mood as well (Spring Offensive). In the third line, the troops are touching shows that they have complete faith in one another and this creates a sense ofRead More‘Spring Offensive’ of Wilfred Owen1400 Words   |  6 Pages‘Spring Offensive’ of Wilfred Owen: Offensive and Its Outcome Sunday, October 23, 2011 Wilfred Owen Masters the group of war poets who have the first hand experienced of modern war fare. ‘Spring Offensive’ like other poems of Owen, is an eloquent protest against the cruelties and horror of war and it is drawn on Owens own experience of the Anglo French offensive launched in April 1917 to attack the Germans who took shelter behind the river Somme in France. The very title of the poemRead MorePoetry and War1681 Words   |  7 Pagesdoes Owen explore the themes of war through the power of his poetry? Answer Q Owen expresses the themes of war through the unique power of poetry. Both the mental and physical brutality of war is emphasised in the poems, â€Å"The Send off,† â€Å"Anthem for doomed youth† and â€Å"Spring Offensive,† furthering the responder’s understanding of a soldier’s life on the western front. Owen employs various poetic devices such as imagery, symbolism and sound techniques, and powerful language features, together helpingRead MoreAllusion And Repetition In Cummings When The World Is Puddle-Wonderful1163 Words   |  5 PagesPuddle-Wonderful: An Analysis of Enjambments, Allusion, and Repetition in cumming’s â€Å"[in Just-]† In â€Å"[in Just-],† cummings brings the reader into a world filled with balloons, playing children, and happier times—only to then insert an allusion to Pan, a lecherous Greek god. On the surface, e.e. cummings utilizes enjambments, allusion, and repetition to urge the reader to immerse themselves within the coming of spring and their past childhood. It would appear, however, that the subtleties within the poem are whatRead MorePoem Analysis: Hedgehog Night of the Armadillo2021 Words   |  9 PagesA Tale of Two Mammals: The Analysis of How to Make it in Society Connected by the delicate branches of the tree that sprouted from the constantly expanding lineage of the Mammalian family, the hedgehog and the armadillo are also separated by millions of years of evolution. The choice in animals for the poems did not fall under the laws of natural selection, they were hand selected to represent the separate, yet connected underlying messages. Paul Muldoon, author of â€Å"Hedgehog†, and Yusef KomunyakaaRead MoreMaya Angelous I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Essay1687 Words   |  7 Pagesin the library reading fantastic adventures. Summary: Chapter 12 In late spring, after Vivian stays out all night one time, Mr. Freeman sends Maya to buy milk. When she returns from the errand, Mr. Freeman rapes her. He threatens to kill her if she screams, and he threatens to kill Bailey if she tells anyone. Afterward, Mr. FreemanRead MoreA Compilation of Essays on People and Their Personalities4701 Words   |  19 Pagesdisturbance of peace by the neighbor. In retaliation the neighbor banged on tin cans to make things unpleasant for the musicians. In the first case it was effort made to earn an honest living and the musicians did not have the intention of being offensive. This leads to the need of being more sensitive to our neighbor’s needs. We have to learn to respect our neighbor’s sentiments According to the essayist a perfect neighbor is one whom we never hear except when he pokes the fire. HOW TO ESCAPERead MoreWilliam Shakespeare Is Highly Regarded For His Literary1969 Words   |  8 Pagesthe Lord Chamberlain’s company of players, (called the King’s Men after the coronation of James I), as a successful playwright. Throughout Shakespeare’s career, he wrote several plays in the genre of history, comedy, tragedy and romance, and several poems, that were not only wildly popular during his time, but to subsequent generations as well (Britannica). One of Shakespeare’s popular tragedies King Lear is one that is often read and studied by college students and literary critics alike. King LearRead MoreGrade 10 History Notes3557 Words   |  15 PagesYpres -April 1915 -Ypres, Belgium -Defensive Battle against German gas attack -Germans released chlorine gas, then attacked -First poison gas attack of war (showing the dangers of modern warfare) -6000 wounded, captured, or killed -Inspired the poem â€Å"In Flanders Fields† by John McCrae -Canadians proved themselves capable by holding the line against the gas attack. 2. Battle of the Somme -July-November, 1916 -Disastrous battle -Attempt to smash through enemy trenches near the Somme riverRead MoreANALIZ TEXT INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS28843 Words   |  116 Pagesï » ¿TEXT INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS The purpose of Text Interpretation and Analysis is a literary and linguistic commentary in which the reader explains what the text reveals under close examination. Any literary work is unique. It is created by the author in accordance with his vision and is permeated with his idea of the world. The reader’s interpretation is also highly individual and depends to a great extent on his knowledge and personal experience. That’s why one cannot lay down a fixed â€Å"model†