The Business Stone Field's Limousine Company Essay

The Business Stone Field's Limousine Company - Essay Example Demographic analysis entails demographic data such as total population and its growth, change in employee demographics in the market etc. Operational analysis includes safeguarding continuity and company development in terms of company operations. Individual analysis focuses on looking at how well an individual doing his job and determining his capacity to do new and different tasks. It shows which employee needs training and how. Heathfield (n.d.) states a distinct method of conducting training needs assessment. Training methods can be of various kinds. For instance, reading assignments, simulations, on the job training, group discussions, lectures, demonstrations, audio visual presentations, brainstorming, oral presentations, problem solving workshops, case study, role playing, field trips and unstructured group interactions. The media included can be audio tapes, video tapes, computers, manuals, guides and the suchlike. There are certain principles that can help in employee training. For example, focusing on emotional maturity, integrity and compassion; the main of this is to develop a person on the whole, including skills and knowledge. Another principle can be to focus on learning, not training specifically. All of this would also contribute to training for learning skills or facts which would be of great benefit for the company. Written material such as case studies, manuals, guides etc with personal instruction or classroom lectures can be the basis for learning. Simply reading the texts would be really helpful in understanding them on your

Wernicke's aphasia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Wernicke's aphasia - Essay Example Included in the effects of aphasia is the problem in the articulation and comprehension of a particular language which can be perceived in both the written and spoken activities (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders [NIDCD], 1997). There are different types of aphasia on the basis of the specific area affected and damaged in the left hemisphere of the brain. The focus of the study, Wernicke’s Aphasia is a type of aphasia affecting the distinct part of the brain referred to as the Wernicke’s area. The Wernicke’s Aphasia is a specific type of language impairment on the basis of the damage in the specific area of the brain for language development and control. The said are is located in the left hemisphere of the brain for speech related skills and activities specifically for comprehension (NIDCD, 1997). The said area of the brain damaged is named after one of the earliest contributors in the field of psychiatry as well as neuropathology Dr. Carl Wernicke, a Polish expert in the anatomy of the brain. He is responsible for creating the clinical picture related to the pathoanatomic analysis of the brain which can be considered as essential in the correlation between the physiology of the brain and the functions performed in the different parts of the body. The parts of the brain affected by the disease are presented in figure 1 (NIDCD, 1997; University of Illinois Department of Neurology & Rehabilitation, 2003). The discovery then of the Wernicke’s disorder can be attributed to the establishment of the field in science that correlates psychology with neurology. For that matter, modeling allowed the critical analysis helpful in both fields. In the said study, Wernicke being one of the strong and essential proponents and active participant in research had been honored by giving his name to the concepts he established. Included in the

Theories of Decision Making Essay Example for Free

Theories of Decision Making Essay Theories of Decision Making The Rational Comprehensive Model The rational comprehensive model is based on the reasoning of economists, mathematicians, and psychologists. It assumes that the decisionmaker can identify the problem, that the decisionmaker’s goals, values, and objectives are clear and ranked in accord with their importance, that alternative ways of addressing the problem are considered, that the cost and benefits or advantages and disadvantages of each alternative are investigated, that alternatives and their consequences can be compared with other alternatives, and that the decisionmaker will choose the alternative that maximizes the attainment of his or her goals, values, and objectives. However, problems are not always clearly defined; problems have to be formulated in a way which enables people to make decisions about them. Decisionmakers must have vast amounts of information in order to make use of the rational comprehensive decision-making technique. There needs to be an ability to predict the future consequences of decisions made. Also, problems confronting decisionmakers often embody conflicting values. In addition, it is tough to ignore the sunk costs of former decisions, these may foreclose many alternatives. Moreover, this model of decisionmaking assumes that there is one (unitary) decisionmaker, when in fact a great many people, interests and institutions are usually involved. The Incremental Theory Attempts to correct deficiencies of the rational comprehensive model and to better describe how policy decisionmakers actually behave have resulted in incremental theory. Incremental theory holds that the selection of goals and objectives is intertwined with, not distinct from, the scientific analysis of the problem. Decision makers only consider alternatives for dealing with a problem that differs marginally (incrementally) from existing policies (suggesting that they do not completely remake policy every time they make a policy decision, but instead refashion existing policy). For each alternative, only important consequences are considered. Problems confronting the decisionmaker are continually redefined. Constant ends-means and, means-ends adjustments are made to better manage policy. Seldom are there ever single decisions or totally correct solutions available to resolve a problem. A good decision is one that policy makers can agree on, not one that may be most appropriate for an agreed objective. Incremental decisionmaking is remedial, not holisticly-devised or future-oriented. Rarely are decisions faced in all or nothing terms. Mixed Scanning Okay, this one is pretty simple. Sociologist Amitai Etzioni (you need only remember his last name) found fault with both the rational-comprehensive model of decisionmaking and the incremental model of decisionmaking. His mixed scanning approach considers both fundamental and incremental decisions. Mixed scanning incorporates a broad-based analysis sometimes and an in-depth analysis at other times. It considers the differing capacities of decisionmakers. Etzioni’s approach is not very specific about how mixed scanning could be used in practice. Decision Criteria Decisions can be studied as an individual or collective process. First, consider the role of values in decisionmaking. Values are a big deal in Presidential campaigns: witness Dan Quayle and â€Å"Murphy Brown† squabbling over values projected by a fictional TV character who elects to have a child out of wedlock. Much of the Clinton vs. Dole 1996 Presidential campaign involved disputes about values big government vs. small government, pro-life vs. pro-choice, and pro-gun control vs. antigun control, et cetera. Values Below are five categories of values which sometimes guide decisionmakers. Organizational Values Decision makers, especially bureaucrats, are influenced by organizational values. Sometimes agencies use rewards and sanctions in subtle ways to induce their members to act in accordance with organizational values. Wearing a common uniform—as do the police, firefighters, the military, the Park Service and the Forest Service, et cetera—is one way those organizations attempt to build common values among their workers. Organizational values involve the promotion of organizational interests in the decisionmaking of those in the collectivity. Professional Values The norms of one’s profession instill values that are often critical in decisionmaking. Lawyers (believe it or not), doctors, professors, and other occupational specialization’s requiring years of training, education, and ork experience embody professional norms or values that shape decisionmaking behavior. Personal Values This can involve personal ambitions, reputation, and self-interest. Note that rational choice theorists put far too much weight on explaining the behavior of individuals in terms of self-interest. This is understandable because so much of self-interest is tied to economic gain, which can be modeled in elegant, mathematical, and abstract terms. Policy Values This means acting on the basis of perceived public interest or acting in accordance with beliefs about what is proper, ethical, necessary, or morally correct. The Small Business Administration is filled with people who are likely to believe that small businesses are worthwhile, need help to survive, and promote beneficial public interests. Ideological Values Rationalizing and legitimizing actions on the basis of a political ideology (or belief system). Nationalism was a paramount ideology in explaining the behavior of many leaders (and average people) during Desert Shield and Desert Storm operations against Iraq. Conservatism and liberalism, although over-used and often misunderstood as American political ideologies, manifest ideological values. Political Party Affiliation Party membership is interwoven with leadership influence, policy values, and ideological values. However, the Republican and Democratic parties are mass membership parties that seek to appeal to an extremely broad range of political interests and ideologies. Also, party members are not nearly as cohesive in voting as they once were (more people vote split tickets than vote along straight party lines). Party is still a pretty good predictor of how most legislators will vote on a bill. Parties are sometimes associated with specific policy positions. Constituency Interests When party interests conflict with constituency interests, legislators usually vote in favor of their constituency interests. A legislator’s constituency is made up of the voters and key interests that elected him or her to office. Legislators are delegates sometimes, and trustees other times. As delegates they decide matters in accordance with the views of the majority of their constituents or in accordance with a vital block of back-home interests. As delegates they attempt to anticipate the feelings and sentiments of their constituents. When legislators behave as trustees, they consider interests beyond their constituencies. They may think about National interests, the greater public good, international issues, broadbased economic concerns, charity, future generations, interests with little or no political representation, and protecting the National and global environment, et cetera. Public Opinion Public opinion usually has an impact on policy decisionmaking when decisions involve broad direction or thrust. Most members of the general public have a very limited knowledge of what policy makers are considering. Public opinion does impact foreign policy in a broad sense. Deference Deferring to the judgment of others occurs when administrators obey the wishes of their politically appointed superiors, or when legislators vote in accordance with the wishes of the top representatives or senators who head key committees or subcommittees. Judges defer when they interpret laws in accordance with the wishes of the legislative originators of the statute. Decision Rules Stare decisis is sometimes a decision rule. It means new decisions are often based on precedents in decisionmaking that came before. It also applies to committee decisionmaking dynamics. THE PUBLIC INTEREST This is tough to define. It is sometimes thought of as the outcome of competing interest group forces. The public interest may involve decisionmaking aimed at helping the Nation as a whole, rather than seeking to benefit selfish special interests. Some may argue that reducing the Federal deficit or balancing the Federal budget advances the public interest. Some may reason that maintaining the Nation’s capacity to mobilize and respond to disaster threats is in the public interest.

FedEx Turnover Rate and Human Resource Strategies

FedEx Turnover Rate and Human Resource Strategies In a recent literature, Bohlander and Snell (2009, PP.93) argued that Employee turnover (rate) or turnover (rate) refers simply to the movement of employees out of an organisation. Actually, it described how long employees tend to stay or the rate of traffic through the revolving door. Low turnover (rate) is helpful to the organisations, which indicated organisations retain employees by different HR programmes (Phillips and Connell, 2003, PP.2). As a common problem, high or low turnover (rate) can be caused by following reasons. 2.2 HR Programs in FedEx 2.2.1 Peer Recruiter Reichert (2010) has written and demonstrated that, in the whole country (U.S.), there are 25 National Recruitment Centers which are developed by FedEx to provide its mangers a much qualified employees during the interview process. Under the direction of regional personnel offices, these centers play the function of screening all applicants. A program called Peer Recruiter was introduced at each of these centers, helping to conduct a professional recruit and to screen applicants. The name of Peer Pecruiter has indicated that the peer recruiters will have a relative working recruit experience when doing an interview for applicants. In this way, the program can not only help select proper recruits, but also provide a chance for applicants to learn more about the expectation of the FedEx and their positions. The retention of FedEx is related with employee relations and recruitment. FedEx really cares about employee and FedEx begins its retention efforts through centralizing the recruitment performance. There are many recruitment centers of FedEx around the world and it develop centers for the managers that with a better qualitied applicant to interview. The recruite program can play the role to help screen applicants and professional recruiters process. 2.2.2 People Service Profits A successful recruitment is certainly important for a company, but the problem is how to retain those applicants. In the opinion of Smith (2009) who is the CEO of FedEx, he said that FedEx has the simple managerial concepts and effective translation them into action. He called them as People-First Philosophy. This philosophy understood by FedEx from these concepts can be defined as People Service Profits which is Purple Promise,- a simple corporate philosophy . FedEx emphasizes that people comes the first, because they believe people make good business sense and the abilities of people are the basic for everything good of FedEx. Therefore, the secret of FedExs success and employees loyalty can be explained as its Employee Friendly HR Practices. (FedEx Express, 2002) 2.3 Programs help to reduce the turnover (rate) 2.3.1 The Recognition and Reward Programs (Motivating Employees) FedEx believes that career advancement is not the only way to increase the growth, and the recognition and reward programs can also work well to reinforce desired behaviour, such as customer focus and quality. Besides, as effective approaches, those programs also keep their employees motivated and to deliver high-quality service. FedEx is willing to acknowledge the efforts of their employees. Because the important function of acknowledgment can motivate and satisfy workforce, as well as stimulate new ideas and cultivate better performance and team spirit. (Global HR, 2008) The Bravo Zulu Program is one of the recognition and reward programs with this goal, recognizing the performance of its employees when they surpass their normal job responsibilities. There are wide recognition approaches, including nonfinancial Bravo Zulu appreciation letters, cash appreciation or noncash awards presented by management, etc. (Shetty, 2011) Shetty (2011) stated that The Suggestion Awards Program is another recognition and reward program in FedEx. Just as the name of the program has implies, employees are encouraged to put forwards ideas to improve companys operations. Of course, those ideas should be about productivity improvement, revenues increasing, lowering cost or promotion of safer working conditions, etc. In FedExs reward process, one of the nice things is that the customer, who has voice in selecting outstanding service, is involved in the process. If the full-time employees have fulfilled service to their customers with full hearts at any time, they will win The Golden Falcon Award. The basis for these awards nominations are consisted of unsolicited internal and external customer letters citing outstanding performance. Every month, the winners of these awards will be announced by company video programs and publications and will receive shares of stock as well as an award. The Five Star Award is FedExs highest award which is given to individuals with outstanding performances. These performances always can materially contribute to profitability, corporation enhancement, and teamwork. Officers, managing directors, managers or senior managers, and non-managerial employees are eligible for the award. (Reichert, 2010 Trimble, 1993) 2.3.2 The Communication Programs The Communication Programs Concepts Open Door Procedure A process for dealing with employee questions or complaints regarding corporate policy Guaranteed Fair Treatment Procedure An employee appeal process for having an issue or complaint heard Survey Feedback Action A key employees relations and satisfaction program Table 3: The Employee Communication Programs The candid communication with the employees has contributed a lot to the successful relationship and retention in FedEx. Smith (2009) emphasized on the thinking of finding the resolution of a problem. He pointed out that enormous times will be spent in dealing with the internal employee response program by FedEx. The most important point in this program is an Open Door Procedure. In the open situation, employees will be encouraged to freely say out and find out solutions to the controversial, disagreeable or contrary problems existing in the current policy. (Reichert, 2010) In Reichert (2010) study, he stated that a relevant fair and open solution to the complaint of the FedExs employees is the Guaranteed Fair Treatment Procedure which involves three basic steps. The first comes to the management review which will have the result within seven days, employees should submit a writer complaint letter to the members of management to describe the issue. Then, the members of management check all the information related to the issue, grasp the facts, make a fair decision and hold an individual meeting or telephone conference to discuss the decision. Finally, the management review will open the decision by writing it in paper, letting the complainant and personnel office know the result. (Reichert, 2010) The second step comes to the officer review. A vice president or a senior vice president of a division is the major conductor. After the result of the first step has came out, the complainants will have seven days to submit a written complaint letter to the officer review, if they disagree about the decision made by the first step. (Reichert, 2010) The last step is the executive review. The complainants can submit their complaints to the Employee Relation Department within seven days. Then the department will investigate, prepare and establish a GFTP case file to the Appeals Board. The Appeals Board reviews all information related to the issues again and makes a decision of supporting or overturning. The Appeals Board will respond to the complainant by written and copy a same one to personnel. As a result, the complainant and company will be bind on the final decision made by Appeals Board. (Reichert, 2010) The Survey Feedback Action (SFA) Program which evaluates the employees relations and satisfaction. From the beginning of the manual survey to online survey, the pattern has been changing. However, there is an important thing which has not changed. Employees participated in this survey, through gathering the results to develop and implement managers corrective action. With the continuous improvement of employee satisfaction, FedEx retains the employees, as a result, the turnover rate will lower. (Trimble, 1993) 2.4 Advantages of the HR programs for employees and FedEx 2.4.1 Advantages of the HR programs for employees Tangible evidence can be found in FedEx, the employees have the chance to know what they will obtain. FedEx strictly insists on a promotion procedure within its policy and career advancement policy. Every employee can be informed the opportunities by the On-Line Computer Job Posting System(Job Change Applicant Tracking System), the notices will be posted throughout the company if the position is open, making everyone see the position demand. The open position is generally taken up by the employee who works inside the company. Unless there are truly no qualified applicants inside, the company will begin to search outside. Therefore, employees have sufficient opportunities to advance in FedEx. Besides, Tuition Refund Program is another popular career advancement tool for employees. With the program, employees who go for further study or training will be reimbursed by company. Many students are employed by the company in the main hub and other locations. (Reichert, 2010) According to the IBS Center for Management Research website (2003), FedEx believes that the employee retention and relation have much to do with the employees development, communication and motivation. Keeping looking for approaches to improve their employee training, FedEx carried out an Interactive Video Instruction (IVI) in 1986. The new information training and test preparation are applying to IVI which contains job knowledge tests for employees twice a year. The most important advantage of this program is that employees can use their spare time to learn and train themselves. Each employee can formulate his or her own learning pace and the training can be repeated as many times as their need. FedEx notes that IVI makes 60% of the training time to be reduced and information to be standardized. The employee compensation is organized to stimulate new ideas, acknowledge individual effort, promote teamwork and encourage outstanding performance. The compensation programs are the blend of benefit plans, pay programs, and quality of the work programs. FedEx Express gives these types of programs with regard to both full time and part time employees, that enable the arrangement of employee can be flexible and support them to have more time with their familises. The most important element attributing to the success is the action. As Smith (2009) said, many local part time jobs are employed by the company as local full time jobs. However, the employees who are senior and from the outside local region will oppress them and hinder the chances for the part timers to advance. A program is set up by FedEx to solve the problem and keep high value employees. Under the program, the part timers will gain credit for local service. 2.4.2 Advantages of the HR programs for FedEx FedEx should implement the People Service Profits Philosophy. The question like what your expectation on me, and what do you expect me to do? always comes first. FedEx uses the Extensive Orientation Program to explain its values to employees and tries to spend sufficient time to answer that question. For FedEx, Smith (2009) thought there are three important things: carrying cargo, letting employees to know its plans and making sure employees to learn that besides earning salary. There must be some ulterior reasons or some higher-level goals of working. It is necessary for employees to set up their goals and receive rewards for their job well done. In addition, employees can also influence the contents which they have done and methods with which they done. (Trimble, 1993) There are two programs used by FedEx to help its employees fit their jobs. The first is Leadership Evaluation and Awareness Process Program which gives a opportunity of the non-managerial employees to seek managerial positions which can help them to learn more about the management job. Besides, the Job Change Applicant Tracking System (JCATS) is also applied to help post job in FedEx, by which employees can know what jobs are open in time. (Shetty, 2011) In 2010, New York Times claimed that the Fortune magazine has recognized the FedEx Corporation as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For of America. It is the only shipping company that list on the top 100 in Fortune and it has been maintain the position for 10 times in the past 11years. From the analysis, some positive trends emerge, which can be regarded as an interactive functions that are the HR department is doing good things with the purpose of keeping their employees happy, and in turn the satisfied employees are doing better to make profits for FedEx in PSP philosophy. The HRM creates great atmosphere, which brings a competitive advantage and a numerous qualify people into FedEx to make their good contribution to the company. FedExs HRM performance is beyond all of competitors. It is known as a company with very friendly employment system. In addition, 3% of FedExs total expense is put in training programs, which is six times more than other companies, such as Executive Education Programs and so on. Because of those training programs, FedEx can keep its turnover rate at a lower levle than its opponents. (Trimble, 1993) The FedEx survey or action or feedback program is a survey of employee attitudes to act as the GFTP and other communication tools. In order to improve its department ability, management applies the survey to decide their next actions. However, the survey is anonymous for maintaining the fairness of attitudes. In the past 13 years, every group and work unit in FedEx can see the survey in public and management never receive any individual responses. The reason is that all managers must meet, discuss and settle the problems that the employees have been put forwards, in less than six weeks. The manager whose feedback score is low should take the corrective actions to develop and improve themselves to be better. FedEx believes that people may actively involve themselves into the matters of company if they feel their influence to act on the real things.

Lost in translation Essay -- essays research papers

Lost In Translation â€Å"Lost In Translation† is one of those movies that seek to be something having something extra something that is more than a regular movie. Moreover, it does so effectively without being pretentious, all through the movie it does not seem like it is trying too hard to be something other than what is there. It is skillfully written, well directed and it boasts of a solid cast not very spectacular but full of good actors. Jointly, this eventually results in an enjoyable and interesting movie. The important thing is that it has a message to it. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson play two individuals lost in the new and unfamiliar surroundings, restlessly moving around a Tokyo hotel in the middle of the night, who fall into talk about their marriages, their pleasure and the significance of it all. What occurs between them is very deep they open their hearts to one another letting the other know about the feelings and problems they are having with their marriages. In my view, t hese conversations can in fact only be held with strangers. We all need to talk about metaphysics, but those who are close to us want information and details; outsiders let us function more loosely on a cosmic scale. Murray plays Bob Harris, an American movie star in Japan to make commercials for whiskey. His relationship with is wife is disjointed, they seem to be on a different wavelength, and they are sticking around because it is easier. A good example is when his wife asks over the p...

Interracial Adoption Essay -- Social Issues, Foster Care, Racial Relat

Imagine being a child without a family, longing for to be living in place to call home you, and feeling incomplete because you do not have a place where you belong. Many children in foster care or orphanages are faced with similar feelings. Children who live in the United States often wait years to be adopted and in most cases, the minority children wait twice as long to be placed with families of their own ethnic background. One article by Linda Johnson Price, the president and CEO of Ebony magazine and a woman who was also adopted, discussed the fact that there are around 500,000 children in foster care waiting to be placed into a home and that close to 45 percent of those children are black (Rice, 2007). She also specifies that the Department of Health and Human Services has studies that show that African Americans wait longer than any other race and that adoption experts say that black children are deemed special needs children and it does not necessarily have to do with their me ntal or physical capabilities (Rice, 2007). The number of minority children waiting to be adopted will continue to rise unless we come up with a solution. One way to address the issue with the long wait process that these children experience is to consider interracial adoption. This type of adoption refers to potential parents who choose to adopt a child or children of a different race, culture, or ethnicity from their own. In order to address the disproportion of minority children who wait to be adopted, we must first consider the requirements one faces to be able to be a perspective adopting parent. The adoption process starts off by choosing an adoption agency. Next, the agency will send someone to the prospective parents’ home to gather informat... ...ion will say that parents who adopt children of different ethnicities are not capable of caring or educating the child simply because of the cultural differences. The critics opinion has merit in the since that the parents cannot teach the child to be their race but they can provide love and raise them to be responsible adults. In the end we must consider which is more important, being able to find a child a loving family when race is not a factor or waiting for an indefinite time to try to find a family of the same race. If you are thinking about which is more important remember that for every twenty children who are in foster care at least nine of them wait an extended amount of time to be adopted. All children deserve a loving home and although we live in an imperfect society our children should not have to experience the feeling of not being wanted or loved.

AO2/A03 How Steve Brankin manages people, finances and resources with in Asidua Essay

AO2/A03 How Steve Brankin manages people, finances and resources with in Asidua In Asidua the management of people, finances and resources under Steve are central to business success. He undertakes this huge managerial task in a number of ways. Interviewing Steve gave me a great insight into these methods. Managing People Recruitment, Retention and Training of Employees. Employees in Asidua have to go through a short listing process and a job interview. Jobs are advertised on their website, Asidua.com kike the example in appendix 1 showing the job vacancy for an â€Å"Experience NET Designer†. Steve will also make sure that this job is advertised properly so people capable of doing the job can apply. Another method of recruitment overseen by Steve is the advertisements of job vacancies at career fairs for example the UUJ Engineering and IT Careers Fair which is held at Jordanstown University. (See appendix 2) at this event Asidua meet prospective graduates and placements to discuss future opportunities with Asidua. This is an excellent way of recruitment as Steve can see the level of employees that have just come out of higher education. This fair at Jordanstown is the perfect place for this as it would appeal to a number of high performing graduates. Advertising in relevant places for example, Universities and schools. On the Asidua website they offer graduates at Queen’s a scholarship worth up to  £25,000, which includes at least eight weeks paid summer work between each academic year, a guaranteed paid industrial placement in year three and after completion of industrial placement, the opportunity for paid part-time work during the academic year. (See appendix 3) This creates a positive corporate image for Asidua as it show they invest in education and Asidua believe it is important. It also means Steve can employ people straight out of university as they will understand Asidua’s aims and the graduates will be trained through the scholarship. Allocation roles and responsibilities to all levels of employees After advertising these posts, Steve starts the application process. For every job within Asidua completes a Job Description, Person Specification and a Job Outline, all these are part of the application process. Applicants use these to see whether they are suitable for the job, and whether certain qualities are met by the applicants. (See appendix 4 application form) Looking at the application it shows that employees within Asidua have high level of expertise and experience due to the large amount of space left on the form for information. The application form specifically asks about the applications’ personal interests professional organisations they have been involved in and it also asks them to mention skills they have gained. For all these sections there is a large box to fill out, this shows us that Steve is looking for people that have high expertise and also that they have an interest or a passion for something. This large amount of information is an efficient way of short-listing people suitable for the job in question. The applicant Curriculum Vitae is also further help in the application process. The Job Description shows the Job Outline and Personal Specification for an Experienced NET Developer in Asidua. You can download these from the Asidua website and they provide lots of information for the applicant. Looking at the Job Description it clearly shows that a lot is expected of the person applying. Asidua offer lots of employment benefits, for example a 5% bonus per annum, pension scheme, annual leave, salary sacrifice scheme (childcare vouchers), flexible working, sick absence, death in service and health insurance. These working conditions are very high are going to make staff very motivated and this is why Steve has these in place, and this is why in March 2011 Asidua became the first employer to be shortlisted twice for the prestigious University of Ulster Placement Employers of the Year Award. (See appendix 6) Being awarded this shows Steve strong managerial skills. Form looking at the Job Description it is clear that Steve isn’t just interested in their qualifications he pays great attention to their personal attributes, requiring employees to be open-minded, flexible, have good communication skills and being able to work as part of a team. This shows that Steve wants his employee’s qualities to create a very effective and profitable work force. Motivating and developing staff Once all this criteria has been met, it is very important that Steve keeps the motivating of staff at high levels. This is mainly done by investing in employee’s development at Asidua, making sure that they are all keeping strong communication to maintain morale. Methods of training that Mr Brankin will use will encourage employees to update their regular skills in a regular basis which will lead them to enhancing their overall performance. There are several motivational theories that we can look at. One of them is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Elton Mayo’s Theory. (See appendix 7 and 8) Mr Brankin doesn’t plan to motivate his staff under these theories, Human Resources will manage these. However many of the policies in these two theories may been shown, as long as they are relevant to Asidua when situations arise. By looking at these theories we can see how Steve as put them into practice in Asidua in many different ways. Strong communication within Asidua are how informal events such as their breakfast club, sports events and Christmas dinners. Employees will feel a sense of community when they are a part of these things. This shows that Mr Brankin and the Human Resources Department are using the correct methods similar to Elton Mayo’s theory, which clearly focuses on working conditions that are not affecting employee’s motivation. It is the employee’s interaction that gives them a sense of recognition. Setting clear objectives and receiving feedback A manager such as Steve Brankin uses close supervision, carefully dictating how his employees complete their jobs. The understanding that employees dislike work and responsibility and the only reason they are there is for the financial reward. Giving employees praise is a positive and effective  way to get employees working. Asidua do this by appraisal/performance management schemes. This enables objectives and training needs to be agreed at the start of the performance review cycle and reviewed as appropriate in the year. Steve has said in our questionnaire that feedback is an ongoing basis, and it is formally documented at the mid way point and at the end of the cycle. Another way Asidua set objectives is by setting task specifically suited to the employees skills, knowledge and experience, by doing this employees within Asidua will be given task that they are interested in and it means they will be completed to the best of the persons abilities. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs has been ignored in Asidua as Steve Brankin uses it to look at the management in Asidua. He uses this theory as it has the idea that needs are essential for employee’s motivation. Physical of basis needs are met within Asidua with, salary, shelter and warmth. The second main need is security, which employees within Asidua will also feel as they will be working in great conditions and the employees have job stability. Mr Brankin shows employees that the business is under his management and proves that Asidua are investing in their employee’s long-term employment. Staff development Staff development is very important in Asidua; this is because of employee’s long-term employment, which creates a sense of community within the business. Employee’s relationship is excellent in Asidua as they are all well known and this can lead to high levels of motivation. The cost of recruitment is lowered because of this as there are a lot of stages that need to be taken into consideration for example short-listing. So the better developed Asidua’s staff are the less employment is needed to replace past employees. Resolving conflict and maintaining morale Sense of belonging is important in Asidua. Steve puts a large emphasis on  the management style, the â€Å"open door† policy. This means that employees can openly and freely talk about their problems or concerns they may have or that may arise between employees, but all these issues can be resolved through training that managers receive to deal with these problems. Asidua have a Grievance and Harassment policy, this is where employees can report issues more formally. Opportunities with Asidua for employees to make decisions meet Maslow’s Hierarchy about self-esteem. Steve’s democratic management style means that this is being strongly met. Also employee’s decisions are listened to and not just thrown away. An example of this are the weekly meetings held in Asidua with Asidua with Mr Brankin and his employees. They also have the opportunity to feedback online, with different online forums. Employee’s opinions are valued, and they are a major part of the decision making process. Looking at how employees within Asidua are given freedom to carry out their own ideas, this shows that there is an extensive amount of training provided for the employees wanting to carry out their own projects or to press into the area that interest them the most. This management allows employees to keep their morale high as they have the freedom at work to do the things that interest them. Managing finance Steve’s management of finance is very important, just like any other management in Asidua it is clearly a very important factor of the whole business. Money that the business has and earns has to be distributed correctly thought out all the departments within Asidua. Without the correct finance management Asidua go into bankruptcy which is something Steve doesn’t want to happen to his company. When Steve is managing finance, decision making is crucial, the financial systems used within Asidua helping him make these important decisions. Forecasting Forecasting gives Asidua a way to manage its finances in a way that they can see future revenues and expenditures. It looks at three main sections: Receipts which Asidua expect to receive from sales. The payments of Asidua such as monthly costs including the rent and rates of their main business sites The net in/out amount of cash being overall difference between receipts and payments given an indication of how much money id left over by the end of the month. All this is vital to Steve so he can make sure any expected cash surpluses are used effectively and can also predict any future problems. Mr Brankin can then work to fix the problem so that they don’t get forced into liquidation. This method of forecasting means that business are able to evaluate any liabilities which need to be met and use the budgets from the facilitate the budget seen from this to facilitate Asidua in setting targets and then been able to measure performance against this by looking at variances which may arise in forecasting Steve can make important strategic decisions if from looking at Asidua’s cash flow forecast it can be seen that their assets will not be able to meet liabilities this will cause Steve to make immediate action showing this method is extremely useful for him in the financial decision making process. Cash flow management Cash flow statements will similarly be used this Mr Brankin to assist in this decision making process. This cash flow statement is the actual record of receipts and payments in the business as opposed to those which are forecasted the shows the actual journeys the cash has gone through in Asidua overtime and will be used by Steve to evaluate and compare these actual receipts and payments from the business with those forecasted in the cash flow forecast. It similarly uses a form of budget in Asidua as this record of cash flow in Asidua will allow Mr Brankin to plan any future cash flow requirements and  allow him to make sure cash surpluses are used affectively. Like forecasting if cash flow is not managed effectively the business could go into administration. Steve will also use profit and loss accounts to manage finance. Profit and loss accounts are basically a summary of the business is transaction over a given period of time normally 12 months deduction the total expenditure from the total income. It is different from cash flow statement and forecasting in the way that is produced primarily for business purposes to show Asidua’s stakeholders and potential partners in Asidua. This information is obtained by HM Revenue and Customs to solve out taxation. This account also give Steve a way to look at the business’ performance monitoring whether Asidua’s actual performance is in correspondence with budgets. Financial decision making this is similar to profit and loss accounts as it shows the businesses liabilities and assets in balance sheets. These are different as they show the value of Asidua on a particular day, the idea of this is to make sure that every day thing is balanced with Asidua. This means it must be updated constantly. However it is a brilliant method of finance management adopted by Steve Brankin. Making day-to-day financial decisions is very important. Profits and break even analysis. Giving advice on capital investment There are many different financial methods which Steve has not adopted. One of these is break even analysis. Break even is when Asidua’s total revenue is equal to their total cost, by known the point these two meet is very important for Steve as he can aim to meet this break even point. This is the number of items which have to be sold to make a profit. It can also be used to avoid making a loss. This is because any amount of product sold under this point would mean that there is a loss made and cost would not be covered. There is a margin of safety within break even analysis; this is very useful as it shows the difference between the number of goods Asidua would have sold between the break even point and the selected level of activity. This  is very practical for Asidua as it monitors how they are making a profit. When managing finance the decision of capital investment is also very important. Mr Brankin must invest time into looking at this as capital is very important factor of production. When Steve decides whether or not to invest capital into Asidua a number of factors must be thought of. For example when Steve puts forward the business plans to continue investment in Northern Ireland’s young talent, which they got three new scholars to join Asidua through their scholarship program. Those participating in the program had to go through serious high levels of application. This has its benefits as coming from this investment into the support of new IT and engineering student; this will lead Asidua to high profit and success great than the initial cost of the program. Liaising with outside agencies e.g. Inland Revenue Steve makes sure that Asidua liaises with several companies within Asidua; this is mainly done for financial reasons. Asidua have links with Inland Revenue, they bring together the direct taxes and other duties of the business. It is important that areas for example finance is handled by specialists. The investment with Inland Revenue is very effective as they provide Steve with professional financial support. Managing other resources. Stave is in charge of the information systems within in Asidua. These are crucial for a business such as Asidua to run smoothly. Information systems It is evident that Asidua and Steve use information systems and are heavily involved in them. As a company that specialise in computers they used computer aided design to manage most of their information and capture diagrams. Desktop publishing is also used in Asidua to manage information. This is used in lots of businesses and is the software to create publication documents on a computer. This allows large amounts of books to be published  and this method enhances Steve’s managerial skills for information. Linux operating systems is also used within Asidua. This operating system can be installed on a wide variety of computer devices including mobile phones. This shows that this operating system is very effective and Steve can use it in many ways. Maintenance and renewal assets Asidua’s website is one of their assets as it allows their stakeholders and those within Asidua to find out about the business, the employees, projects under consideration and events. This is an excellent way to promote the business as this is based on the high quality of the website and it is important for the business’s image. Apart from Asidua’s employees having the benefit of being able to be updated via Asidua’s public web page, the business also have an intranet system in place. This system is Asidua’s private network created for employees which enables them to find items in their website easier. This has its benefits as it motivates employees and improves morale; this asset provided by Asidua must be renewed and updated regularly under Steve’s management for success.