A Summary Of Research On Job Retention & Turnover In Child Welfare Service Essay

This article discusses job retention in social welfare. Smith (2004) raises a problem that cannot be dismissed lightly: â€Å"staff turnover in child welfare agencies† with estimated turnover rates within â€Å"23% to 85%† annually. Smith (2004) suggests â€Å"the need to explain, understand, and prevent it. † According to Smith (2004), various business environments have used models to explain employee turnover reflecting perceived organizational support and organizational commitment. Only a few studies applied this model when studying child welfare retention. Data was gathered from two surveys to test organizational support on job retention to include factors such as supervisor support, extrinsic rewards, and intrinsic job values. Smith collected data from child welfare staff on two occasions at various agencies to study job retention in child welfare. First, an in-person survey was given. A couple of months later, information was collected from the participating agencies to examine the percentage of individuals that remained employed at the agency. Twelve counties participated. Staff turnover rates were high in these areas of study. Smith (2004) measured organizational and job satisfaction, supervisor supportiveness and satisfaction, job tenure, workload, time use, and perceptions about job turnover and retention. Smith used the organizational support theory and work place exchange relationship to theoretically examine the perceived effects on job retention. The â€Å"work place exchange relationship†, stated by Smith (2004), looks into the relationship of a â€Å"frontline staff† and a direct supervisor. This relationship suggests that when subordinates perceive their supervisor to be supportive â€Å"they become more committed to the organization† (Smith, 2004) Smith (2004) considers the organizational establishment of arrangements that support work-life balance to be an important form of organizational support. This theory suggests that â€Å"workplace arrangements that facilitate work-life balance will promote employee commitment to the organization. † Another aspect of the organizational support theory is that it highlights the â€Å"roles of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards† in employees’ decision to stay with or to leave their employers. For instance, one study concluded that extrinsic rewards, like, benefits package, are important â€Å"motivator† whereas another study on intrinsic rewards found that the latter is a more powerful motivator than the former. (e. g. , Deci, 1971; Snelders & Lea, 1996). The results of Smith’s study indicated that â€Å"extrinsic rewards such as the facilitation of life-work balance and supervisor support are associated with job retention, but reports of intrinsic job value or not†. According to Smith (2004), a social exchange framework is useful for understanding turnover and retention dynamics in child welfare organizations. In my personal view, I find one weakness of the research having â€Å"study measures. . . not standardized. † This makes the research less scientific and subject to criticisms from the scientific and business communities. On the other hand, I find the strength of the research in its confidence in declaring that its findings â€Å"can appropriately be generalized,† however, â€Å"only to high-turnover agencies in rural areas†Ã¢â‚¬â€œthus, the knowledge obtained from the research can be used by decision-makers in formulating and adopting certain policies on employee retention and turnover.

Different Aspect of Chinese Culture and Their Impact on Marketing Essay

Chinese culture is one of the richest and oldest cultures. What makes Chinese culture unique and catchy is the fact that the Chinese all over the world observe their culture with huge amount of enthusiasm and commitment. Four Major aspects of the Chinese Culture that we have analyzed in this paper are: * Collectivism * Degree of uncertainty avoidance * Masculinity, and * Power Distance Collectivism: China as a society is more toward collectivism then individualism. Historically china has long been a family-run country, major portion of the society belongs to agriculture and live in rural areas of a country. Farm and family are the two basic institutions in china which are collectivist in nature. From childhood they trained and learned to work together and believe in â€Å"we† not in â€Å"I†. So from childhood they are integrated into strong cohesive in-groups. In China it is really hard to disagree with someone opinion in public. A direct argument is always avoided. Harmony and oyalty in any institution (in the form of company, family and even in country) is always important. You do not say in public â€Å"free Tibet†. They are highly context society. Instead of saying â€Å"No†, expressions or phrases are used for disagreement. We have seen many examples of their collectivist thinking in business e. g. in case of Lenovo where Chinese and Americans started to work together as business partner. Chinese believe on team’s performance as the criteria for company’s success where as American believes on individual performance. So for any company coming to lead china this aspect is matter of concern for them. They believe that relationship between employee & employer and in between businesses partners are deeply rooted in trust. Family has huge influence in consumer decision making procedure. Family is led be by father/husband who has absolute power and be in charge of family. They are more sincere towards their families than toward non-family organization. In contrary Japanese who are also collectivist in nature have no difficulty in changing their loyalty from their family to institution? The collective culture is deeply rooted in society and a tight political control sometime put multinational companies in great trouble. As we saw in Avon China, company is highly successful in their direct marketing of their cosmetic product throughout the world and even they are successful in china also but government ban their direct sales operation in china due to which they have to change their all sale force strategy. Today some of the manager/leader in china believes that collectivism will soon end in China. Now they believe that people is started to move toward individualism because of globalization. And other huge reason for this is their one child policy especially in their cities. This restriction left society with many young citizens who have been raised to believe that they hold a special place in the world. So they think that this sort of upbringing lower the collectivism in the society. Similarly this one child policy put young one in extra pressure as they have to take care of their family (spouse and child), parents and some time grandparent also. In summary china still is highly collectivist society where they want to put harmony in in-group and work for the interest of their group and not necessarily for themselves. Employee is more committed towards his/her family than to their organization. People belong to in-group in exchange of their loyalty. Uncertainty Avoidance: Level of a culture or society deals on a reality that the future is uncertain: should people try to control the future or just let it happen? This ambiguity brings with it anxiety and different cultures have learnt to deal with this anxiety in different ways. Some studies on the culture of china argue that china has strong uncertainty avoidance but majority of the studies argue that the Chinese culture has a very weaker uncertainty avoidance which avoids too many rules and formalities. Chinese culture is more towards stimulating innovations and emphasizing new ideas. It is flexible and more acting than reacting on changes occurring inside and outside of business. While cultures with very high uncertainty avoidance demonstrate their emotions in such a way that everything which is different becomes dangerous for them. They often resist in changes and worry about their future. In china obedience to laws and rules may be flexible to suit the actual situation and simplicity is a fact of life. The Chinese people feel comfortable with ambiguity, even Chinese language is full of ambiguous meanings that can be difficult to follow or learn for other people. Chinese are good in adaptability and entrepreneurship. The majority of Chinese businesses which constitutes to around 70% -80% of their total businesses use to be small and medium size and most of which are family owned. Martinsons (1997) and Lametal(2005) studies on East Asians shows that for Chinese people unclear information give them more comfort level than any other nation. The example of which their studies demonstrate that informal communication path between Chinese who rely more on personal experience rather than the clear or detailed information. They are more of introvert people who keep more information between themselves, rather than explicitly expressing it. It is more common in China than any other country that apart from the information that is being discussed on table people who interact with them need to interpret the â€Å"real† meaning of conversation yourself, because Chinese people usually prefer to use references to explain something they think you should know and they suppose that other people would understand. We are biased towards the studies that uncertainty avoidance in Chinese culture is weak mainly because for Chinese people importance of information is for the power, instead of than unable to tolerate the uncertainty. So the idea that Chinese culture is uncertainty tolerant is supported. Contrary to the traditional thinking of most of the people and authors of various studies that Chinese people are more conservative in regard to change and Chinese culture has a strong uncertainty avoidance, the facts in this section and in most of the article Chinese people’s attitude tend to be more positive toward change and towards new technology when it comes to experience change or new technology or whatsoever which is a clear indication of weaker uncertainty avoidance of Chinese culture. Other Studies such as Collis (1995) and Brownetal(1998) also compared Chinese culture with various countries culture which supposedly have a weaker uncertainty avoidance. According to their study on people and cultures of various countries â€Å"people from China hold more positive attitudes on change and new technologies than those from countries that they compare, namely, UK, US and Japan†. Masculinity: The Chinese culture is dominated by masculine traits overall, mainly driven by Confucianism in which the focus was not to compromise and women were regarded inferior. Chinese culture was also affected by Daoism which was more feministic in nature but its impact was far less then Confucianism. Following of strict principles as laid down in Confucianism has led the Chinese people to form a masculine society. Observing the priorities of Chinese people one can easily see that they prefer work and income over quality of life, they would leave home for better working opportunities and would sacrifice leisure for better and more income. Success is important and the means to achieving it are not actually given much importance, even if it involves steps that are not beneficial for everyone the main objective is to achieve the end result. Success is defined by who is the winner and not by the path followed towards success. As a nation they rate economic growth as a very high priority and do not consider factors such as environmental or labor issues as crucial, we can see that most of the counterfeit products around the world and manufactured in China which is not limited to small products but even stretches to copying automobiles where exact replicas are made without any regard to patents or original design e. g. cheery qq copied form Daewoo’s matiz for which general motors filed a suit against the Chinese manufacturer. Conflicts in China are not solved by negotiations rather hierarchy and in some cases force is used to suppress the voice of all involved and the will of people at the top is enforced. This leads to lack of ingenuity although increased efficiency because of very clear understanding of what is required from everyone leads to lowest costs which is the benchmark of Chinese production. Also long working hours are not considered a bad thing and leisure time is sacrificed for work willingly. The masculine qualities do help china to efficiently make products, but hamper the services part in general. There is huge gap with respect to gender in China when it comes to leading, very few women can be seen at management posts and women are not considered equal in all walks of life. Also the ratio of girls to boys has been disturbed severely because of the one child policy and people seeking medical procedures to opt for boys instead of girls. Failing in Chinese culture is not a minor accident but considered a disaster and one is expected to be deeply embarrassed in case of facing some failure in life. Even suicides are committed to save one from the shame of facing others after failure, this approach hinders the generation of new ideas and research since the rate of failure is really high in trying new things. As a whole, Chinese people are mainly concerned with the result and being good at achieving them in the most efficient way possible but are not that much concerned about how they do it. Liking what they do is not as important as being the best in it. Power Distance: Chinese culture is considered as high on Power Distance. Being a socialistic society, it is expected of them to be relying on those on top to make decisions. If we look at the Chinese history we could find numerous examples of submission to Government Decisions, however vague or absurd they might look. Strict compliance by the Chinese people on one child policy of the government is one of the examples. From my personal experiences of working at one of the Chinese ventures in Pakistan (Zong), I have witnessed quite a few examples of their obsession towards following the hierarchy. From not contradicting with the seniors even knowing that they are wrong to adjusting their chair height to ensure that they sit lower than their senior are some of the behavioral instances that I have observed about their culture. Now, for a business working with the Chinese whether in a Business to Business or a Business to Consumer relationship, one needs to give due respect and concern to the Power Distance they observe and practice in their daily life. Taking Business to Consumer first, buying behavior in the consumer markets is driven by the parents or elders. Marketer in this case again will have to alter his marketing mix to ensure that his product and promotion catches the attention of the people entrusted with the decision making responsibilities. Similar techniques are required of a marketer seeking Business to Business relationship. Again recalling from my personal experiences at Zong, Chinese vendors adopted this technique of keeping the higher management involved in everything. I had witnessed CEO’s of Chinese vendors visiting zong’s premises even for the trivial things like picking up a cheque or dropping an invoice or some letter etc. as they knew that Zong’s Management personnel will never like to talk to an executive or an officer of the vendor, because of the fact that hierarchies are embedded in their minds. Mistakes were made on the same grounds by the Pakistani Vendors who could send in their lower staff for such jobs, which used to annoy the management and resultantly Pakistani Vendors had very little or no business with Zong. Another threat that High Power Distance poses on a Marketer Pitching his product in China is the impact of Government Regulations. There are numerous examples of Corporate Failure of International Chains in China because of the Government Bans. E. g. Direct Selling by AVON was banned in China by the government because of which they had to change their Marketing techniques for China in order to ensure that they still sell in the market. Even a mere recommendation from the Government on adopting or abstaining from a product can have a great impact on your sales. Organizations in societies who are high on power distance are highly bureaucratic in structure. This is also true for the Chinese organizations as well. This means that the Banking, Finance, Taxation and Insurance sectors of the Economy are highly bureaucratic thereby implying that the process flow is slow and cumbersome. To sum up, Power Distance is one of the ground realities in China and as a Marketer; one could not ignore this fact while pitching his / her products. If you have taken this fact into account and have addressed it properly, you are on the right side of what could be a successful business story.

Equity and trust law assignment, The WritePass Journal

Equity and trust law assignment, Question 1 Equity and trust law assignment, ). Pearce. R and Stevens. J, The Law of Trusts and Equitable Obligations, OUP Oxford, 4th Edition, (2006 Cases Armitage v Nurse [1998] Ch 241, 251 Bahin v Hughes [1886] LR 31 Chd 390 Cowan v Scargill [1985] Ch 270 Green v Ontario   [1973] 2 OR 396 DKLR Holdings Co (No 2) P/L v Commissioner of Stamp Duties (1980) 1 NSWLR 510 Kirby v Wilkins [1929] Ch 444 Knight v Knight (1840) 3 Beav 148 McPhail v Doulton [1970] 2 All ER 228 MacJordan Construction Ltd v Brookmart Erostin Ltd [1992] BCLC 350 Morice v Bishop of Durham (1804) 9 Ves Jr 399 Nocton v Lord Ashburn [1914] AC 932 Re Baden’s Deed Trusts (No 2) [1972] 2 All ER 1304 Re Erskine 1948 Trust; Gregg and Another v Pigott and Others [2012] 3 All ER 532 Re London Wine Co (Shippers) Ltd [1986] PCC 121 Re Rose [1952] Ch 499 Re Smith [1896]   1 Ch 71 Re Vickery [1931] 1 Ch 572 Revenue and Customs Commissioners v Trustees of the Peter Clay Discretionary Trust [2007] EWHC 2661 (Ch) Saunders v Vautier (1841) EWHC Ch J82 Speight v Gaunt (1883) 9 App Cas 1 Target Holdings v Redferns [1996] 3 WLR 352

How to Make a Solar System Model

How to Make a Solar System Model A solar system model is an effective tool that teachers use to teach about our planet and its environment. The solar system is made of the sun (a star), as well as the  planets  Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, and the celestial bodies that orbit those planets (like moons).   You can make a solar system model out of many types of materials. The one thing you should keep in mind is scale; you will need to represent the different planets according to differences in size. You should also realize that a true scale will probably not be possible when it comes to distance. Especially if you have to carry this model on the school bus. One of the easiest materials to use for planets is Styrofoam © balls. They are inexpensive, lightweight, and they come in a variety of sizes; however, if you intend to color the planets, be aware that regular spray paint in a can often contain chemicals that will dissolve Styrofoam - so it is best to use water-based paints. Types of Solar System Models There are two main types of models: box models and hanging models. You will need a very large (basketball sized) circle or semi-circle to represent the sun. For a box model, you could use a large foam ball, and for a hanging model, you could use an inexpensive toy ball. You will often find inexpensive balls at a one-dollar type store. You can use affordable finger paint or markers to color the planets. A sample range when considering sizes for planets, from large to small, might measure: Jupiter (brownish with a red spot): 4 - 7 inchesSaturn (yellow with red ring): 3 - 6 inchesUranus (green): 4 - 5 inchesNeptune (blue): 3 - 4 inchesVenus (yellow): 2 inchesEarth (blue): 2 inchesMars (red): 1.5 inchesMercury (orange): 1 inch Please note that this is not the right order of arrangement (see the sequence below.) How to Assemble the Model To make a hanging model, you can use straws or wooden  dowel  rods (like for grilling kebabs) to connect the planets to the sun  in the center. You could also use a hula-hoop toy to form the main structure, suspend the sun in the middle (connect it to two sides), and hang the planets around the circle. You can also arrange the planets in a straight line from the sun showing their relative distance (to scale). However, although you may have heard the term planetary alignment used by astronomers, they do not mean the planets are all in a straight line, they are simply referring to some of the planets being in the same general region. To make a box model, cut off the top flaps of the box and set it on its side. Color the inside of the box black, to represent space. You might also sprinkle silver glitter inside for stars. Attach the semicircular sun to one side, and hang the planets in order, from the sun, in the following sequence: MercuryVenusEarthMarsJupiterSaturnUranusNeptune Remember the mnemonic device for this is: My very educated mother just served us nachos.

The Grapes of Wrath Importance of the Title

'The Grapes of Wrath Importance of the Title The Grapes of Wrath, a Pulitzer-prize winning book written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939, tells the story of   the  Joads, a poor family of  tenant farmers driven out of Depression-era Oklahoma also referred to as Oakies by drought and economic factors, who migrate to Californa in search of a better life. Steinbeck had trouble coming up with the title for the novel, a classic in American literature, and his wife actually suggested using the phrase. From Bible to Battle Hymn The title, itself, is a reference to lyrics from The Battle Hymn of the Republic, written in 1861 by  Julia Ward Howe, and first published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1862: Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:His truth is marching on. The words have some important resonance in American culture. For example, Martin Luther King Jr, in his  address  at the conclusion of the Selma-to-Montgomery, Alabama, civil rights march in 1965, quoted these very words  from  the hymn.  The lyrics, in turn, reference a biblical  passage in  Revelations 14:19-20, where the evil inhabitants of Earth perish:    And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine press of the wrath of God.  And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine press, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. In the Book The phrase grapes of wrath does not appear almost until the end of the 465-page novel: In the souls of the people, the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage. According to eNotes; The oppressed such as the Okies are ripening in their understanding of their oppression. The fruit of their anger is ready to be harvested. In other words, you can push the downtrodden so far, but eventually, there will be a  price to pay. In all of these references from the tribulations of  Joads, to the battle hymn, the biblical passage and Kings speech the key point is that in response to any oppression, there will be a reckoning, likely ordained by God, and that rightness and justice will prevail. Study Guide QuotesThe Battle Hymn of the RepublicQuestions for Study DiscussionJohn Steinbeck Biography

Nestl Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Nestl - Essay Example As a result business organizations across nations are breaching political and geographical boundaries in an attempt to grab a share of the market. The emergence of developing nations has created numerous opportunities for business organizations so as to expand into different markets. This has triggered a wave of competition among the business organizations to garb each other’s market share. International expansion also poses numerous challenges for multinational firms which have operations in different regions as markets in different nations have distinct consumer tastes and preferences apart from large scale variations in macro economical and political environments. The present study would deal with the aspect of international expansion and its effects on the product and marketing and product mix of the organization. The organization selected for the study is Nestle. The choice of the organization assumes significance considering the fact that the firm has its markets in nume rous regions and has a large range of product mix and categories that cater to many segments of the consumers across the world. About the Company Nestle is the global leader in the food and beverage industry segment and has a significant presence across numerous consumer markets across the globe. The origins of the company date back to the year 1866 when Henri Nestle founded the organization in Vevey Switzerland. The company has since then grown up a long way to emerge as an organization which boasts of its business presence in almost all the major markets of the world with a profit margin of CHF 108 billion providing employment opportunities to about 280,000 individuals. The company’s mission is to provide best quality and highly nutritious food to individuals across the globe (Nestle, 2011). Opportunities and Challenges of International Marketing International expansion has given rise to a new term called ‘Multinational Corporation’. The word multinational in b usiness parlance implies an organization in which the marketing related tasks are formulated in numerous nations and are coordinated across all the markets where the firm operates (Onkvisit & Shaw, 2008, p.5). International expansion throws numerous opportunities and challenges before an organization. On one hand it opens up numerous opportunities in the form of new markets with good potential. Saturation of a particular product line can also be handled by a firm if it introduces the product in newer markets. It also reflects numerous challenges for an organization as large scale market fluctuation and adaption with the local culture and sentiments play a major role in the success of firms in the international markets (Czinkota & Ronkainen, 2007, p.10). Figure 1: The Process of International Marketing (Source: Philips, Doole & Lowe, 1994, p.28) The figure above shows the process of international marketing in multinational organizations. The figure shows numerous challenges such as a ttitude based barriers, unsolicited orders, lack of willingness as well as time frame based commitment to the

FOUNDATIONS OF SCHOLARSHIP & RESEARCH Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

FOUNDATIONS OF SCHOLARSHIP & RESEARCH - Essay Example The information systems have given enormous facilities to human and data management factors. This piece of work also contains information systems’ services to build mega projects (Link, 2008). The role of business professionals and IT professionals is very significant and inevitable. The professionals, in an organisation, focus on information administration, central systems and framework for smooth operations. As Walters and Tang (2006) state: â€Å"IT-enabled strategic management must address the role of IT plays in the strategy content options and priorities, strategy formulation processes and strategy implementation processes. Strategic management focuses on the identifying the direction of an organization, and designing and instituting major changes needed to gear the organization towards moving in the established directions†. (pp. 02) Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson (2009) articulate that IT provides the tools for quality of services QoS and risk management in the process of strategic management. The study aims are to explore and identify the parameters and correlations between strategic management and information technology. Some factors of the understanding reflections in the affiliation among appropriate features and configuration, and the impacts of IT on business strategies, are discussed. This paper reveals some new avenues of information concerns and designing enterprises’ needs. Furthermore, in the practice of strategic management, the socio-technical factors also described. Project analysis, according to strategy, normally is completed for the reasons that adhered with vision, outcomes, administration and control (Sadler and Craig, 2003). The increasing complexities of organisations have created welcome environment for information technology in which the strategies are geared up for developing new grounds. IT supplies the accuracy, consistency and systematic framework to