Pharmacy as a Profession Essay Example for Free

Pharmacy as a Profession Essay My observation made me acknowledge that pharmacy is a profession that is concerned with the provision of health services to the members of the society. These services are always administered basing on the perspective of the therapy of drugs. The pharmacy health care professionals normally deal with the identification, prevention and resolving the drug therapy problems in the society. The health care services provided by the pharmacists are usually considered as the pharmaceutical care. In this care we find that the professional deal with the patients in order to meet the needs of the sick people. While doing this they also provide education to the patients on how to use the prescribed drugs and informing them on the effectiveness of the drugs administered to them. The societal commitment of the professionals is to take the responsibility of ensuring that the patients and other people in the society are given the best drug therapy possible and this have attracted many people to get in this unit of health care provisions. It is also used in the prevention of illnesses that occur in the society by providing education and information on the illness to the people, so that they may be able to prevent themselves from the infection. According to my observation I found out that this profession involves the interaction of the pharmacy practitioner with the clients, thus individuals are recommended to have an enormous knowledge in communication and an artistic mind that will help me to raise and solve issues successfully. This goes hand in hand with the pharmacological interventions whose main objective is to help the ill person to get well. More interestingly I found out that this step is consequently supposed to be done with a great care by being specific, recognizing how often the care practice should be done and also if the care plan is understood easily while following the specified directions. I also understand that, under the professions management one is enabled to carryout the evaluation process which is always done with an ambition of ensuring whether the patient was able to meet the goal of the pharmacological care to be provided; The other benefit that I noticed while pharmacy as a profession is that of intermingling with other health professionals who are believed to be of higher rank in the general public and through this there is an actual improvement in pharmacological skills. The best part of the profession that excited me was that for those who want to join this profession they are usually required to undertake an undergraduate course in pharmacy, after which the student is required to sit for a national board examination through the pharmacy examining board and then one should have a practical experience that is termed as an internship. The other requirement is that one needs to have a great knowledge in communication and a creative mind that will enable the person to raise and solve issues in an effective way. The individual must be willing to accept the responsibility of his actions since the whole society’s health depends on the individual. This implies that the person interested in the career should have the professional attitude while carrying out the health care associated activities. I also found out that after successfully completing the required pharmacist courses and obtaining license to work as a pharmacist an individual can open his/her pharmaceutical business, work   with community pharmaceuticals or government sponsored hospitals among others. The fundamental reward that pharmacists receive is the payment made by the patients who require prescriptions of drugs. There is also the benefit of intermingling with medical professionals believed to be of higher rank in the society.   The professionals under this career have the opportunity of working in various areas including hospitals, home, schools and also pharmaceutical industries whereby they usually work as consultants to the provision of drug therapy in the society.

Internationalization: Japanese Manufacturing Company

Internationalization: Japanese Manufacturing Company This report was written to review the process of internationalization of one Japanese manufacturing company in Singapore. Impacts from financial crisis in year 2008 forced the group companies to exercise cost-cutting measures in their global operations, and localization is the only way to save costs and to maximize the utilization of local expertise and responsiveness to meet global competition. The review focuses on several front-end aspects of international HRM activities during the process of internationalization. Literature review on the topics of strategic IHRM, staffing systems, cultural differences and expatriate selections were studied and compared with the current organization structure and its HR management approaches and practices. Issues and problems arises from expatriate assignments were reviewed for future development. Comprehensive evaluation activities and areas of improvement were recommended for the company to leap forward. 1. Strategic Human Resources Management in International Context Strategy Human Resources Management (SHRM) is a process that allowed a company to bring its core resources together for strategic planning, for example core competency, core processes, cultural, structure and human resource to align with the company strategy to achieve its goal and objectives, see figure 1. In the context of international field where the firm operation involves in various countries and employing different national categories of workforces, the SHRM will look into broader perspective, for example in the area of six identified human resource activities in domestic context internationalization [Dowling P.J 2008]. Some of the additional international HRMs activities implemented by the HR department when Mastec progressed into internationalization are given in Table 1. The terminology of employee category are such as, i) PCN:- employees born and live in parent (home) country (headquarter), ii) HCD:- employees born and raised in the host country (where the subsidiary operate, and iii) TCN:- employees born in a country other than the host and parent country, were introduced into the company human resource system. The implementation of the strategic IHRM depends on the stage of the company at during the process of internationalization. Adler and Ghadars model (1990) based on Vernons life-cycle theory distinguishes three phases in the international product life-cycle [H. Scullion, 2005]. The first phase (high-tech) focuses on products, research and development that emphasizing on technical competency and role of functional area. The second phase (growth and internationalization) concentrates on business growth and market penetration in local and foreign country. The third phase (maturity) put pressure on the lower price and cost-control measures due to global competition. In the modern technology world, product life-cycle has been shortened to 3~5 years, which allowed Adler and Ghader to suggest a fourth phase. The fourth phase emphasis that a firm must pursue differentiation and global integration in order to achieve cost-control measures. This is the main reason for headquarter in Japan to re organize the business structure in Southeast Asia. The parent company has seen the maturity of the market in Southeast which triggered their decision to implement cost-control measures. However, detail examines at each of the subsidiary shown that there are mixture of phases which the subsidiaries are experiencing. For example, Vietnam and India are in the first phase which focuses on products and developing technical competency. Human Resource Activities International Human Resource Activities Human resource planning administrative activities in foreign subsidiary, cross-border risks management, political risk, terrorism and welfare Staffing Staffing approach in subsidiaries in Vietnam, India, Thailand and Malaysia. Recruitment of HCNs for host-country operation, etc. Training and Development Cross-cultural training, language translation, pre-departure training Performance management Evaluation of expatriate performance, overseas assignment ROI evaluation and staffs evaluation for foreign subsidiary Compensation and Benefits Tax equalization, overseas housing and posting allowances, return air ticket benefits, health-care, etc. Industrial Relationship different taxation law, compliances with host government policy, and compliances with general acceptable practice of doing business. Table: 1 The other approach to strategic IHRM implementation was contributed by the two logic of Evans and Lorange which suggested product-market logic and social-culture logic [Evans Lorange, 1989]. Both raise a question how a firm operates in a different product markets and diverse social-culture environment, which effectively establish human resource policies. Product-market logic implied that various phases of produce life-cycle need different focuses of manager which dictates the HR activities to concentrate on core competency, entrepreneurial skills and technical know-how. Social-culture logic suggested that for a firm to operate in various counties, employing people from difference social-culture backgrounds influences HR activities into providing training and education of cultural difference. Focusing on encouraging open communication, an open-minded listening, discouraging silo and facilitating activities that required less sentence structure will get around language and cultural di fferent barriers [H. Buknall, 2005]. The argument stressed the important of willingness to listen, letting the other party to clarify any doubt without making self assumption to achieve effective communication. Since Mastec had gained the status of regional headquarter in year 2009, the HR activities had started to look into above requirement, but the implementation process is still at a learning stages. This is the reason why only expatriate from Singapore was allocated to subsidiary operation in Vietnam, whereas Thailand and India still managed directly from Japan. The effectiveness of current organization structure to manage the subsidiary and how effective it can perform its role as regional headquarter and maintaining the similar level of corporate government as before need to be evaluated. 2. Staffing Approach and Human Resource Orientation As a firm progressing toward internationalization, management and control become more complex due to operation in geographical dispersion and multiculturalism. In leveraging those factors, the multinational firm can adopts centralized or decentralized approach which ever fits the complexity of its environments. Majority of Taiwaneses MNC likes Foxconn and Acer Computer practicing centralized control system. Prahalad and Doz refer centralized approach as global integration with strict control and decisions making from headquarter. Decentralized approach is more towards local responsive that gives some decision making autonomy to its subsidiary in order to best modify it product and services to meet local market demands [Prahalad, 1987]. Typical decentralized control company is a joint venture alliances. One of a reference company which operates very successfully under decentralized system is Johnson Johnson. The IHRM literature used four approaches to managing and staffing its subsidiary, called ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric and regiocentric [Perlmutter, 1979]. Through these four types of management orientations, companies can clearly change from one orientation to another, depending on the needs of the company [Mujtaba, 2006]. This statement was proven by the decision of headquarter to change management system in Southeast from pure ethnocentric to regiocentric. Detail explanations of each type of the staffing approached are given as follows: 2.1) Ethnocentric Is a staffing approach where subsidiaries are managed by staffs from PCN. In ethnocentric approach, PCNs are dispatched to fill in key position of a subsidiary in host-country. The mind set of management is what work at home, will work here [Guergana K.S. Mujtaba, 2009]. Some of the reasons to pursue ethnocentric management system are lack of qualified personal, competency or special technical knowledge in HCNs. The need for centralized control, risk management, needs for parent-subsidiary to maintain good communication and coordination are another reasons to practice ethnocentric management. However, there are several limitations associated with ethnocentric system where HCNs has limited opportunity for career promotion and leads to high turnover. Adaptation of expatriates to host country takes much longer time and often leads to poor decision and cross-cultural conflict may occur [Zeira, 1976]. High operating cost to sustain expatriates expenses being viewed as unjustified by HCNs . Typical example of ethnocentric approach company are Japanese firms such as Panasonic, Sony and Hitachi. In Mastec organization, the staffing approach for subsidiaries in Thailand, Vietnam and India adopted ethnocentric system due to lack of competency of HCNs and the needs for corporate communication. Most of the customers in India and Thailand are Japanese manufacturers, therefore an expatriate with Japanese language ability to communicate with customers parent company in Japan is still vital. 2.2) Polycentric In polycentric staffing approach, multinational firms rely on the HCN to run the business operation and rarely PCN are transferred to foreign subsidiary. Each subsidiary is treated as an independent business entity with decision making autonomy. In some cases, PCN belief that foreign markets are too difficult to understand and therefore a join venture alliance was formed. The benefits of polycentric are local subsidiary has more leverage to run business operation and achieve fastest local response to market demand. Polycentric system allows continuity of management by HCNs in foreign subsidiary. Language barrier, cross-cultural adaptation problems and high relocation cost to sustain expatriate expenses were eliminated. The disadvantage of polycentric is bridging gap between HCNs and PCNs at headquarter due to language barrier, conflicting of national loyalties and compliance to headquarter HRM policies. There are potential risks of subsidiary become federation, isolated from headquar ter and not pursuing corporate business goals [Dowling P.J 2008]. In Mastecs organization, the establishment of subsidiaries in Indonesia and Malaysia was under joint venture alliance and operate under polycentric system. In order to maintain a reasonable level of control and to provide managerial and engineering support, virtual assignments system was implemented with frequent business trips to visit the subsidiary company by the respective manager. 2.3) Geocentric The management style in geocentric staffing system focuses on global operation to draw best talents and resources. Each subsidiary and headquarter are interdependent of each other to make unique contribution based on their comparative advantages. An example of this company is Mercedes Benz, where the company sources raw materials around the world from the lowest-cost perspective and assembles their cars in Germany where the best technology is located. The strengths of geocentric approach are multinational firms able to develop a pool of global executive for deployment throughout the global organization. It encourages career development and promotion of high-potential executive regardless of nationality. However, in the process of collecting wisdoms and deploying expertise globally, host government may intervenes recruitment using immigration control to encourage employment of HCNs. Extensive international socializing between PCN, HCN and TCN to support geocentric staffing system need s centralized control which reduced independency of subsidiaries and the staffing decision is time consuming. High cost associated with cross-cultural training, relocation expenses and the need to have compensation package with international standard gives substantial financial burden to the firms. 2.4) Regiocentric Regiocentric staffing approach focuses at a specific geographic boundary, but used a pool of managers from the subsidiaries within the region. Several regional headquarter can be formed such as in Asia, Europe and Middle East which will report to headquarter in parent country. The regional headquarter gains decision making autonomy to operate their business. HCH will be able to interact with PCN posted in the regional headquarter. Parent company is able to maintain reasonable compliances to headquarter HR policy and manage risks control with PCN staffed in regional office [Dowling P.J 2008]. However, there is a potential of federation at regional rather than a country basis. Career prospect also limited to regional level and lack of opportunity for HCN or TCN to explore headquarter working experience. One should remember that the four management orientations are not mutually exclusive. Therefore, they can take place all the time within same organization for its departments or product lines [Guergana K.S. Mujtaba, 2009]. The current organization structure of Mastec clearly demonstrating the application of various management styles within an organization. 3. Managing Cultural Differences Culture can be defined as shared of beliefs, values of a group of person, ways of thinking and living [L. Laroche, 2007]. It encompasses what we are taught to think and response to any given situation by the society in which we are raised. In multinational business context that operating globally, one has to be sensitive and understand the cultural ways of doing business. An example is, in Japanese culture, some of the decision making process is executed through informal advance discussion to reach a consensus called nemawashi [Jon Miller 2007]. Greert Hofstede has defined culture as: Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster.[Geert Hofstedeà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ Cultural Dimensions, 2009] The statement implied that if we have an insight view of different people behaves in different cultures, we will tend to interact with the people in other countries more effectively to create successful business results. The Hofstedes five cultural dimensions of study can be applied to have broader views of national culture. Power Distance: Most of the countries in Southeast Asia region exhibits large power distance. In such organization, most of the power centralized in the hands of few key staffs. Subordinates have high dependency on their bosses and are unlikely to approach and contradict with their bosses directly. Individualism: Countries in Southeast Asia are a mixed of individualism and collectivism. Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam are more collectivism due to the people from birth onwards are integrated into cohesive groups, high respect for royal family and family oriented. In Japanese culture, individual opinions almost do not exist and employees will act according to the interest of their group ~ the group come before individual. American and Australia countries exhibit high individualism where people are more self-oriented. Masculinity: Refer to the societies where gender roles are clearly distinct. In masculinity society male are supposed to be assertive, tough and material success oriented. Female are supposed to be more modest, tender, submissive and concerned with quality. In Asian society, especially Korean and Japanese company, the masculinity culture is stronger, where female staffs are expected to serve tea whenever there is an important visitor. Uncertainty Avoidance: This can be defined as people tolerance toward uncertainty or ambiguity. It indicate to what extend the cultural intricate a person to exhibit the feeling of uncomfortable and nervous in unstructured situations. Country of USA and UK exhibit low level of uncertainty avoidance whereas Japan and Singapore exhibit high level of uncertainty avoidance. An example, Japan tends to have strict laws and procedures to which their people adhered closely. Long-Term Orientation: Long-term orientation versus short-term orientation. This fifth culture is said to deal with Virtue regardless of Truth. Values associated with long-term orientation are thrift and perseverance and values associated with short-term orientation are respect for tradition, fulfilling social obligations, and protecting ones face. Both the positively and the negatively rated values of this dimension are found in the teachings of Confucius, the most influential Chinese philosopher who lived around 500 B.C. This dimension also applies to countries without a Confucian heritage such as Brazil. [Hofstede, 1994, Geert Hofstedeà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ Cultural Dimensions, 2009] Beyond the economic and political-legal issues, a countrys cultural environment (communications, religion, values and ideologies, education, and social structure) also has an important implications when it comes to a companys decision about when and how to do business there [Bohlander/Snell 2007]. Asian society comprised of various cultures and traditional customs inherited from different countries. It is vital for a global manager or expatriate to fully aware of the respective culture before departing for international assignment. Some manager can adopt culturally appropriate behaviors, but that does not apply all the time in all cultural setting [Dowling P.J, 2008]. Therefore, it is essential for HR to arrange and facilitates cultural training to equip expatriates with necessary skills to cope with the new environment in foreign country. 4. Expatriates Selection Hiring and deployment people to effectively perform international assignment is a crucial decision because failure in expatriate assignment will cause huge financial loss, damaging a business, and distance a relations between subsidiary and parent company. One can concluded that an expatriate failure represents a selection error, compounded in some cases by poor expatriate management [Eugene Nic, 2002]. Recruitment and selection is a process of searching potential job candidates and gathering information for the purpose of evaluating and deciding best people for a particular vacancy. The factors involved in expatriate selection can be assessed from individual and situation aspects. Individual factors are i) technical ability, ii) cross-culture suitability, and iii) family requirement, whereas situation factors are categorized as i) culture or country requirement, ii) language, iii) MNE requirement. Technical ability of an employee to perform the required tasks is the most important consideration, given most of the reason for international assignment is to fill up position. That means, special skills and competency or important roles will be assigned to the expatriate. In most of the developing country such as Vietnam and India, lack of HCNs staffs ability required parent company to dispatch expertise to do the jobs as well as knowledge transfer. Giving that reason, an effective skill of expatriate is also important to translate technical or managerial skills to HCN. Cross-culture suitability or ability to adapt to foreign environment is crucial for an expatriate to operate independently in foreign environment. The desirable attributes shall include cultural empathy, adaptability, diplomacy, language ability, positive attitude, emotionally stability and maturity [Caligiuri, 2000]. An employee with high coping skill enabled him to survive and mix into local culture. Apart from culture ability, individuals personality, communication skills and attitude to foreigner are also important factors for expatriate to build up personal network in foreign country, hence contribute to successful of international assignment. Family requirement determines the ability of family members to adapt to the new foreign environment, particularly spouse. The responsibility of spouse to setup new home, plus the down side emotional feeling of leaving behind a career, friends and social support network may cause burden to an expatriate and affected the work performance. The major causes of expatriate failure are family adjustment causing premature departure, poor performances, lifestyle issues, work adjustment, business climate and repatriation issues, and other opportunities arise. By far, the biggest factor tends to be a spouses inability to adjust to his or her new surroundings [Riki Takeuchi, 2002]. Disruption to children education, the need to take care of aging parents and custody of children for a single parent may cause the selected candidate to reject the international assignment. In order to avoid burden of trailing spouse, the manager assigned to India is without accompanying by his spouse and children. Country or cultural requirement may impose restriction to employ PCN or TCN. Multinational firm need to demonstrate that HCN is not available, or providing a training program to transfer knowledge to HCN before the host government will issue working permit. An example is in UK, working permit for Japanese language translation is easy to obtain compared engineering jobs. In some country, working permits only issued to expatriate where trailing spouse is not permitted to work, which may create adjustment problems. Or work permit only issues to male expatriate (eg. no work permit for woman expatriate in Middle East country). MNE staffing policy is another important decision to meet company objective, for example knowledge transfer, management development or organization development. The motivational of HCN, HCNs career progression and keeping the lowest cost of business operation also need to be considered. However, for the reason of corporate control and the need for special skills, staffing of PCN cannot be avoided. Other situational factors are mode of operation, duration and type of assignment and amount of knowledge transfers will affect the staffing policy. The ability to speak local language linked to the capability to learn local culture. Differences in language are recognized as major barrier to effective cross-cultural communication. Even though, many multinational firms places language at less important criteria and they view language as a mechanical which is manageable by individual. Expatriates who are able to speak local language will be regarded as part of the local society which make business communication much easier and friendlier. The other important aspect of language is the ability to understand corporate language. Some multinational firm from non-English speaking countries may adopt corporate communication using the language of parent country (eg. Japanese or Korean) as a standard way of reporting. Prospective candidate may be eliminated from the potential pool due to a lack of competency in the common language [R.Marschanp, 1999]. Therefore, language ability may limit the multinational firm ability to select the most ap propriate candidate. The requirement of Japanese language to communicate with Japanese customers has placed restriction of expatriate selection in India Thailand. 5. Lessons Learned The decision of headquarter in Japan to change management system in Southeast Asia region has put great pressures on Mastecs HR management to looks beyond local context. Throughout the process of implementing IHRM activities, numerous valuable experiences have been learned for future improvement although there is no major problems arise. Those experiences suggested that IHRM does not only facilitate and supporting business units but plays a strategic roles to initiate the planning process and monitoring the implementation throughout the organization. The close coordination between HR department and individual business units in the implementation process is essential to realize the company objections. Several experiences gained are examined below for learning process: 5.1) Mis-match of expectation: Lack of cultural understanding: It is not surprise that the cultural training was ignored because HR department has taken for granted that Singapore is a multicultural country. The expectation manager from the HNC in term of responsiveness and local staffs management have causes conflict under visible management system. This had resulted the manager to fly more often to the destination to resolve the issues. 5.2) Lack of cultural understanding: In India, holding hands between male-and-male indicate good relationship and trust of each other. However, this practice has given a culture shock to the Japanese expatriate when a local customer tried to hold his hand during the walks for lunch after a serious business discussion. 5.3) Insufficient expatriate arrangements: The last minutes decision of selecting a candidate for job assignments in Vietnam has given surprises to the spouses. In order to keep his job performance, the expatriate agreed on the assignment and leave behind his ill parent to be taken care by his spouse alone. Frequently, the expatriate has to return to home at his own expenses for traveling cost. 5.4) Lack of communication channel: The above mentioned expatriate does not has communication channel to relay his personal problem to the company. Approaching directly to his boss could be misinterpreted into demanding for extra benefits. The issue may be solved if HR could approach open-minded discussion or using mentoring approach. 5.5) Language barrier: Due to the unique communication requirement with Japanese expatriate of customers and potential local candidate for jobs assignment in Thailand and India was eliminated. This has slowed down company objective to reduce operating cost toward regiocentric management system. 5.6) Lack of broader perspective: Due to different compensation package for overseas assignment between Japanese and Singapore expatriate, a potential local candidate who has Japanese language ability rejected the offers for job assignment in India. The difference of compensation especially in hardship country has viewed as unjustified and less attractive by local staff. 5.7) Lack of cultural understanding: A newly expatriate Japanese manager exercises his authority to force a group of employee to work during the cultural national holiday in Thailand (Buddhist festival celebration). The manager has promised to his customer to dispatch his employees to support production and will pay triple salary for the over-time working hours. Without understanding the cultural practice of religious celebration in Thailand, he applied pure ethnocentric management style that worked well in Japan into Thailand society. That incident caused cultural conflict between that group or worker and the expatriate. 6. Conclusions The internationalization process of Mastec is still at an early stage where there are still many activities needed to put in place to strengthen its operation. Mastec need to look beyond its coverage of IHRM studies in the area of training and development, performance management of expatriate, management of repatriates, succession plan, industrial relation, and human resources management in host-country. The issues and problems that arise could be avoided if the proper pre-departure trainings were conducted before expatriate assignment. People before Products is a philosophy of the founder of Panasonic Group company, Konosuke Matsushita (1984-1989), emphasize on cultivating the potential ability and development of workers before business [Konosuke Matsushita, 2007]. For example, Samsung Electronics used internal developed Local Expert program to train employees to better understand the international business environment [Tony Michell, 2010]. We can also predict that in long run there is possibility for parent company decision to move toward to polycentric system in Southeast Asia region subjected to successful of current arrangement. Therefore, it is crucial for Mastec to implement more IHRM activities in order to demonstrate its independency and capability to manage the regional business. At the same time, it is essential to gain respect and trust from headquarter by adopting strong corporate governance, cooperation and compliances to headquarter HR policies in Japan. 7. Bibliography Peter J.Dowling; Marion Festing Allen D.Engle, SR.: International Human Resources Management (2008). South-Western Cengage Learning Hugh Scullion Margaret Linehan: International Human Resources Management (2005) Evan P; Lorange: The Two Logics Behind Human Resource Management (1989). Palgrave Macmillan Hugh Bucknall; Reiji Ohtaki: Mastering Business in Asia (2005). John Wiley Son D.A. Heenan and H.V. Perlmutter: Multinational Organization Development (1979) Addision-Wesley. Prahalad C.K.; and Doz Y.L: The Multinational Mission, Balancing Local Demand and Global Vision (1987). New York, Free Press Mujtaba B.G: Cross Cultural Change Management (2006). Liumina Press, Tamarac, Florida Guergana Karadjova-Stoev; Mujtaba B.G: Strategy Human Resource Management and Global Expansion Lessons from The Euro Disney Challenges in France, International Business Economics Research Journal, Vol.8, No. 1 (January 2009), pp.69-77 Y.Zeira: Management Development in Ethnocentric Multinational Corporation, California Business Review, Vol. 18, No.4 (1976), pp.34-42 Lionel Laroche; Don Rutherford: Recruiting, Retaining, and Promoting Culturally Differences Employees (2007). Butterworth-Heinemanm Jon Miller (2007): The Art of Nemawashi http://www.gembapantarei.com/2007/03/the_art_of_nemawashi.html Geert Hofstedeà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ Cultural Dimensions. http://www.geert-hofstede.com/ Geert Hofstede: Cultural and Organization Intercultural-cooperation and its important for survival (1994). Maidenhead, McGraw Hill Bohlander/Snell: Managing Human Resources (2007), 14e. Thomson South-Western Eugene McKenna and Nic Beech: Human Resources Management-a concise analysis (2002). Financial times, Prentice Hall P. Caligiuri: The Big Five Personality Characteristics as Predictors of Expatriates Desire to Terminate the Assignment and Supervisor-rated Performance. Personal Psychology, Vol. 53 (2000), pp 67-88. R.Marschanp-Piekkari, D.Welch and L.Welch: Adopting Common Corporate Language, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 10, No.3 (1999), pp.377-90 Riki Takeuchi, Seokhwa Yun, and Paul Tesluk: An Examination of Crossover and Spillover Effects of Spousal and Expatriate Cross-Cultural Adjustment on Expatriate Outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 87, No. 4 (August 2002): 655-66. Konosuke Matsushita: Konosuke Matsushitas Enduring Insight-The Heart of Management (2007). PHP INSTITUTE, INC, ISBN978-4-569-69112-1 Tony Michell: Samsung Electronics-and the struggle for leadership of the electronics industry (2010). John Wiley Son

School Vouchers The Wrong Choice Essays -- essays papers

School Vouchers: The Wrong Choice Susie is a young girl who lives in Florida. Since kindergarten, she has attended a nearby private school. Her parents willingly pay her tuition, even though doing so forces them to cut other corners. They do not mind these sacrifices, since they know that their daughter is getting the best education they can give her. Jesse lives downtown, in the inner city. She attends the local public school and struggles through her classes. Her mother would like to send her to a private school, where there is less violence and a calmer atmosphere, but cannot afford it. Then, Jesse’s mother learns that a voucher system has put into place for the entire state of Florida. Jesse’s inner city, spray-painted elementary school received a failing status, so she can receive a voucher to attend the school of her choice. With the money she receives from the voucher, Jesse’s mother is able to send her daughter to the same private school that Susie attends. Is it fair that Susie’s parents pinch pennies while Jesse’s mother send her on the bus for free? While meaning well, does the voucher system inadvertently discriminate against children like Susie whose parents must work extra hours to put their children through private school? Is the voucher system really the answer to the problems with American education today, or a way to transfer them somewhere else? American public schools have always had their flaws. In the nineteenth century, colleges complained of under-prepared freshmen; students who could not write an essay or even spell. A main controversy was bilingual education for newly naturalized immigrants. As America entered the early 1900s, the debate turned to the use of entertainment in the classroom. Teachers felt that they must put on a show in order to keep the attention of their pupils. The abandonment of phonics in the 1920s and 30s was believed to be the reason why the job market consisted of those with inadequate educational preparation. Social promotion and the replacement of the â€Å"three R’s† with emotional stability and attitude courses were the causes of concern in the 1940s. The 1950s brought an awareness of low standards. It was found that American children were lagging behind the average standards of the rest of the world. Safety in schools also became an issue; incoming teachers were warned of the â€Å"ph... ...(Roberts, Glenn 23). Instead of taking this money away form the nation’s failing schools, it should be pumped into them and put to work. Education tax dollars should be put to work solving the problems in American schools. The voucher system is an escape out the back door. It simply transfers all of the issues out of the public schools, placing them in the hands of the private community. Bibliography: Works Cited Kaczor, Bill. â€Å"Judge Throws Out Florida Voucher Law.† Tallahassee Democrat, 15 March 2000. Roberts, Nanette M. and Glenn, Charles L. â€Å"School Vouchers: Two Views.† Sojourners (January - February 1998): 22-25. Rothstein, Richard. The Way We Were?: The Myths and Realities of America’s Student Achievement. [Online] Available http://www.tcf.org/publications/education/way.we.were/Foreword.html, May 1, 2000. Tyack, David. â€Å"Choice Options: School Choice, Yes - But What Kind?† The American Prospect Online, January - February 1999, 42. [Online] Available http://www.propect.org/archives/42/42tyack.html, May 1, 2000. Whitmire, Richard. â€Å"Milwaukee Voucher study Says Public Schools Not Harmed.† Gannett News Service, 3 February 2000.

In Support of Parenting Education Essay -- Child Development

In a perfect world, every child would be wanted and loved, and all parents would have the capacity and the desire to raise children who are healthy, mentally and physically strong, and displaying high moral integrity. Sadly, this is not the case. Some parents are, unfortunately, not much interested in what happens with their children. Other parents are not pleased with what is happening in the home with their children but do not know what to do to create effective change. Still other parents are unaware that there is another way, a better way, of parenting. Parent education could help in all of these scenarios. The literature demonstrates that parenting interventions improve the quality of the relationship parents have with the children as well as improving child social behavior (Scott, O’Connor, Furth, Mathias, Price, and Doolan 2010). Programs have been particularly effective when delivered to motivated, ethnic majority parents, but there has been little study of programs that serve as interventions aimed at preventing a wide range of poor outcomes associated with antisocial behavior, such as involvement in risky lifestyles, low school attainment, and a lack of satisfactory friendships (Scott et al.). There are, of course, problems associated with delivery of parenting programs; the greatest challenge is getting parents to participate when there is no mandate that they do so. Skilled personnel may be another issue; urban areas may have sufficient counselors and educators, but rural areas may not. A third issue is cost, although, as pointed out by Scott et al., â€Å"programs can i n theory be justified since in the long run they should reduce the high cost of antisocial behavior arising from increased use of services, higher levels... ...t effective when parents take an interactive part. Works Cited Brannon, Diana. â€Å"Character Education—a Joint Responsibility.† Education Digest 73.8 (2008): 56- 60. Parker, David C., Nelson, Jennifer S., and Burns, Matthew K. â€Å"Comparison of Correlates of Classroom behavior problems in schools with and without a school-wide character education program. Psychology in the Schools 47.8 (2010): 817-827. Reinberg, S. (2010). U.S. kids using media almost 8 hours a day. HealthDay News January 20, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday /635134.html Scott, Stephen; O’Connor, Thomas G.; Futh, Annabel; Mathias, Carla; Price, Jenny; and Doolan, Moira. â€Å"Impact of a Parenting Program in a High-Risk, Multi-Ethnic Community: the PALS Trial.† Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry 51.12 (2010): 1331-1341.

The Big Move to College Essay -- Personal Experience Narratives

The Big Move to College Moving away from home has been one of the biggest challenges that I have had to face so far in the eighteen years of my life. Moving from my home town to the collge dorm was a difficult transition that was necessary for growing up both mentally and physically as an individual. The little more than five hundred miles that separates me from my friends and family has allowed me to become the person I am today, and the distance allows me to grow and become more familiar with things that are a whole new experience for me. One of the many new things that I have had to deal with was making new friends in my environment. As I drove away from my house on the morning of August 20th 2005, not only was I saying goodbye to my own room and bathroom, but I was also saying goodbye to my family and friends. I just left my house, and had not made it to the freeway that was less than five minutes away from my house when the tears began to form in my blue eyes, and in no time they were falling down my cheeks and splashing into my lap. While driving on the freeway for what seemed like only a few minutes, I realized that I would now have to face the fact that I am now old enough, and hopefully mature enough, to withstand college in a different state. I turned on loud, fast music to distract me from all the doubts and fears I had about college. Eventually I began to think less and less of all the worries I had and more about the new life and friends I would soon have because of this experience. When we arrived at Northern Arizona University, my mom and I made several trips from both of our cars to the room that I would now call my own. Finally, when we were both breathless and tired, she told me that sh... ... state. At first, the transition was tough, but through a simple dinner with girls from my hall, my college experience was made that much better. We all have the pair of freshmen, Megan and Amber, to thank for bringing our whole hall together through the trip to Oreganos for dinner. Little did we know at the time, that we would end up being the best of friends in a matter of weeks. Months later, we all remain close and we know we can trust each other with our deepest, darkest secrets, and even our lives. Although we do have our quarrels once in a blue moon, when anyone has a problem with another person, the problem is settled in a matter of minutes. I am so glad that I was given the opportunity to meet Megan, Renee, Kaycee, Amber, Kara, Arika, Liz and Leah. I believe we will all stay in touch through trials and tribulations during and after college.

Blue-Collar Brilliance Essay

Blue collar workers are the backbone of America. In the article, â€Å"Blue-Collar Brilliance†, author Mike Rose emphasizes his belief that blue collar jobs should not be viewed as mindless tasks, but rather should be acknowledged for the amount of skills and intelligence these tasks truly require. What the author essentially means is that blue collar workers acquire knowledge, intuition, and skills from the social dynamics of their workplace itself. Rose argues that we often make mistakes by judging people based on their level of education and thereby not giving them the recognition they deserve. Through observation, trial and error, and often physical and verbal assistance from others, blue collar workers develop their skills. â€Å"Blue-Collar Brilliance† is an article that makes us realize that formal education does not always measure the level of intelligence of a person. Blue Collar jobs require just as much intelligence as jobs that require formal academic credentials (e.g. a College Diploma) and hence should be recognized for their work. In the article, â€Å"Blue-Collar Brilliance†, Mike Rose disagrees with the assumption that â€Å"Intelligence is closely associated with formal education† (Mike, 247). Although the aforesaid assumption has been absorbed throughout history, Rose believes that more readings occur in the blue collar workplace than what society gives credit for. I agree with Mike Rose when he argues that although society often defines one’s IQ based on school grades, blue-collar workers develop intelligence and skills in workplace through proper planning, problem solving, and social interactions. Most blue collar Mehreen jobs are constantly faced with new problems every day, in the midst of grueling schedules, that demand instant resolution. Blue collar workers acquire intelligence, wisdom, and skills from the technological and social dynamics of their workplace. In the article, Mike Rose supports this view  by describing what he learned as a child observing how his mother was shaping her identity as a waitress in the coffee and family shops. Since then he came to realize that his mother’s work required both mental and physical strengths. In the midst of grueling work schedule, Mike’s mother learned not only how to work fast but smart as well. She acquired her knowledge and skills by studying human behavior. In her busy work schedules, she memorized tactfully who ordered what by devising mental strategies. Besides working as a waitress, Mike’s mother constantly tried to understand the psychology of her customers in an effort to provide customized services to meet their specific needs. Her experience reminds me of the time when I worked as a sales representative at an AT&T retail store in Alabama. The thought processes involved in my work was very similar to the work that Mike’s mother did. Like Mike’s mom, I devised my own mental strategy to respond to customer queries and concerns more effectively in order to satisfy demands. I often made decisions on whether or not to sell a product by observing, understanding, and interpreting the behavior of the customers. In the article, the author emphasizes that most blue color jobs require significant amount of judgment and reading than white color jobs. The author supports his views by saying, â€Å"Carpenters have an eye for length, line, and angle; mechanics troubleshoot by listening; hair stylists are attuned to shape, texture, and motion† (Mike, 251). Mike argues that the use of a tool requires motor skills to perform, because a person needs to know the main purpose of the  tool for a particular situation. By working with a tool for a long period of time, the worker becomes attuned to every aspects of the environment that enhances knowledge and perception of the job at hand. As a result, workers get more trained and disciplined. In the routine tasks of most blue collar jobs, reading is integral to workers to understand production quotas, and learn how to use an instrument. Although formal education is important, but learning how to use those skills is more important. I agree with Mike Rose’s perception of how modern day society is often reluctant to bestow upon the blue collar workers the recognition they deserve. However, I’m a strong proponent of availing every human being, regardless of their race, gender, or social status, the access to a decent education. I support the  author’s claim that people should not be judged only by the kind of work they do. While most white collar workers have higher levels of education as compared to their blue collar counterparts, they may not necessarily be more intelligent or savvy at the jobs they perform on a day to day basis. Mike is not saying that education is not important but he argues that many of the tools to become successful in the work place become routine with observation and trial and error. Education is still a very important tool but learning how to manipulate that tool and use the skills learned in the working environment to make plans and solve problems is more crucial for success. Although formal education is important, the skills and wisdom we acquire through direct experience in life are the true indicators of how intelligent a person is. Blue collar workers should be acknowledged for the work they do because they demand the same level of intelligence as jobs that require academic credentials. They perform routine tasks in the midst of difficult work schedules by reading and making proper judgment, which affects the ways they   perform their work. Regardless of the fact that most white collar workers are more educated as compared to their blue collar counterparts, they are not necessarily more intelligent at the jobs they perform. The skills which we develop through formal education are important tools but knowing how to apply those tools in real life circumstance are more important. Through social interactions, observations, and trial and error, blue collar workers learn how to successfully accomplish their tasks every day. Works Cited Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel K. Durst. â€Å"Blue Collar Brilliance.† â€Å"They Say/I Say†: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing: With Readings. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. Print.

Mohandas K. Gandhi: The Story of My Experiments with Truth Essay

â€Å"Truth is like a vast tree, which yields more and more fruit, the more you nurture it. The deeper the search in the mine of truth the richer the discovery of gems buried there, in the shape of openings for an ever greater variety of service† (Gandhi 191). Mohandas K. Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869, and ever since that day has dedicated his life to the search for truth. During this quest, he became a leader of the Indian Nationalist Movement against British rule and to this day remains a highly influential figure in political activism and social progress. In his autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Gandhi shares stories of his triumphs and falls while trying to free India from British rule, all the while trying to stay true to his vows to his mother and to himself. The point that shows through brightly in Gandhi’s autobiography is that his values and morals about life coincide with his political philosophy. Gandhi’s main view on business and politics is the strictness to truth. He explains this well when he states: Business, they say, is a very practical affair, and truth a matter of religion; and they argue that practical affairs are one thing, while religion is quite another. Pure truth, they hold, is out of the question in business, one can speak it only so far as is suitable. I strongly contested the position in my speech and awakened the merchants to a sense of their duty, which was two-fold. Their responsibility to be truthful was all the greater in a foreign land, because the conduct of a few Indians was the measure of that of the millions of their fellow-countrymen† (109). Gandhi’s devotion to truth begins as far back as his high school days. During a spelling examination Gandhi has trouble spelling the word â€Å"kettle†. Seeing this the teacher tries to prompt Gandhi with the point of his boot to copy his neighbors answer, with which Gandhi does not respond cooperatively and was the only one in the class to misspell the word. He explains, â€Å"I never could learn the art of ‘copying’†(4). His devotion to truth only is strengthened as he matures eventually he states that he is a, â€Å"Worshiper of Truth†(6) and that, â€Å"The passion for truth was innate in me†(9). Gandhi shows an admiration for truth that runs deep in his blood. Most likely he obtained this ideology from the devotion his mother held within her. He explains of the impact of his mother while stating, â€Å"The outstanding impression my mother has left on my memory is that of saintliness. She was deeply religious. She would not think of taking her meals without her daily prayers†(2). Clearly Gandhi received his committed, religious mindset from his mother; the exception was that Gandhi’s religion was his search for ultimate truth. To begin his odyssey Gandhi travels to London for training to become a barrister. The profession of barrister comes with the reputation of being filled with lies and trickery, which one might say disputes the purpose of Gandhi’s existence. However, Gandhi does not believe this is so explaining, â€Å"As a student I had heard that the lawyer’s profession was a liar’s profession. But this did not influence me, as I had no intention of earning either position or money by lying†(324). Gandhi’s pure heart could not be tainted by even the most corrupted of professions. After school he returned to India in 1891 and in 1893 accepted a job at an Indian law firm in Durban, South Africa. Gandhi was appalled by the treatment of Indian immigrants there, and joined the struggle to obtain basic rights for them. Gandhi’s determination to honesty and truth combined with his uprising political stance granted him great respect in the political community. He realizes this when he states, â€Å"I also saw that my devotion to truth enhanced my reputation amongst the members of the profession, and in spite of the handicap of colour I was able in some cases to win even their affection†(328). Not only is he gaining enough prestige to win the cases he is doing it despite the nonwhite color of his skin. The honor he earns in and out of the court room allows him to put up a valiant effort in his fight for Indian rights. His values in his political war are synonymous with the strict values he holds in his real life. One of the main aspects of his life is religion. To prove this he states, â€Å"It is that faith which sustains me†(335). Faith and religion holds a deep place in his heart and coincides with how he feels politics should be handled. He states, â€Å"I can say without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means†(454). For instance, when Gandhi goes to experience the Bengal religion he is deeply troubled by the tradition of sacrificing a lamb and explains â€Å"To my mind the life of a lamb is no less precious that that of a human being. I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitle it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man†(208). In Gandhi’s eyes it is not moral to kill any life including one that is less powerful than a human being. This religious view that he holds translates to how he deals with issues in society. Such as the terrible Zulu rebellion, a rebellion in South Africa against British rule. Hearing of the rebellion Gandhi did not fight back or fight with the South Africans he simply set up an Ambulance Corps and helped the South African victims. Through out all of his life Gandhi never once harmed anyone to get his political point across, for that was not in his religion to do so. Just as religion affected the way he viewed politics, so did his diet. For a majority of his life Gandhi has been a vegetarian, which was all started by a vow that he promised to his mother in his young adult life. The main value that his strict diet has taught him is self restraint in the rest of his life. He mentions this saying, â€Å"One should eat not in order to please the palate, but just to keep the body going†(287). When Gandhi gives up the pleasure one gets from eating he leaves it simply to the biological need of the task. He explains the difference between his life and of others when he states â€Å"The diet of a man of self-restraint must be different from that of a man of pleasure, just as their ways of life must be different† (292). He uses his value of self restraint to his political advantage when he makes his stance simply by being controlled and not reacting to the situation. For example, while him and some of his followers are retrieving water from the well they are faced with great abuse and are told that they would pollute the water. To combat this, Gandhi uses great self restraint and simply tells everyone, â€Å"put up with the abuse and continue drawing water at any cost†, this works beautifully, later â€Å"when he saw that we did not return his abuse, the man became ashamed and ceased to bother us†(356). Gandhi’s use of self restraint and self control give him up the upper hand in any political fight and like this one, always almost end up in a victory for him in the end. Both his self restraint and non violence values come in to play in Gandhi’s main political weapon, civil disobedience. Civil Disobedience involves making a stand and taking action against a social injustice, however, using complete peace and never once resorting to violence. Gandhi explains it best when he says, â€Å"A nation that wants to come into its own ought to know all the ways and means to freedom. Usually they include violence as the last remedy,[civil disobedience], on the other hand, is an absolutely non-violent weapon. † (339). An instance where this strategy is used is while the government is trying to force its Indian citizens to pay an unnecessary tax on their crops with no exceptions, even in a famine. Gandhi forms a pledge to be signed by all the affected citizens that simply states that they will not pay the taxes anymore. No violence is used and no emotional or physical pain comes in to play. While Gandhi does not share the consequences of the pledge in his autobiography the reader realizes the courage it takes to stand up to authority calmly and not defensively. A more famous example where there was a beautiful demonstration of civil disobedience is the salt march that Gandhi led his followers on. When the citizens were being taxed excessively on salt, Gandhi leads them on a march to the sea to make their own salt in protest to the government’s taxes. Gandhi explains the powerful affect this has on the people when he states, â€Å"The people had for the moment lost all fear of punishment and yielded obedience to the power of love which their new friend exercised†(367). Civil disobedience not only works magically to solve social problems it does it without causing harm to either party involved and causes a strong community atmosphere to develop, which works faster to solve difficult political issues. Civil disobedience is a contribution to today’s society that will never be forgotten and never taken for granted. Gandhi will forever leave an impact in every person’s heart. He used his extraordinary values and morals to free the Indian citizens from harsh British rule. His politics never deterred from what he held deep in his heart. He answered the tough questions such as, ‘What if everything is pointing me to do something I do not believe in? ’ and ‘Where do you step aside from your values for the betterment of your community? ’. His answer to these questions are always follow your heart and follow what you believe is true. Gandhi dealt with extreme turmoil and through out every obstacle never stopped on his quest for the truth. While not every step there was smooth, it was a determined path none the less. When Gandhi explains the symbol of a Court of Justice he states that it â€Å"is a pair of scales held evenly by an impartial and blind but sagacious woman. Fate has purposely made her blind, in order that she may not judge a person from his exterior but from his intrinsic worth†(127). This is comparable to Gandhi’s view on life and politics. He does not judge the people around him, he takes the situation for what it is, truly, and does what he believes in his heart is right. While Gandhi has had an incredible impact in politics forever his real lessons begin in finding ourselves, and the truth within ourselves.