Quebecs Quiet Revolution What Is It How Has It Changed Quebecs Socie

Quebec's Quiet revolution: What is it? How has it changed Quebec's society? How has it affected Confederation? The English-French relations have not always been easy. Each is always arguing and accusing the other of wrong doings. All this hatred and differences started in the past, and this Quiet revolution, right after a new Liberal government led by Jean Lesage came in 1960. Thus was the beginning of the Quiet Revolution. Lesage had an excellent team of cabinet ministers which included Rene Levesque. The Liberals promised to do two things during the Quiet Revolution; one was to improve economic and social standards for the people of Quebec, and the other was to win greater respect and recognition for all the French people of Canada. The Liberals started a program to take control of hydro-electric power companies. French-Canadian engineers from all over Canada returned to Quebec to work on the project. Slogans during these times were "we can do it" and "masters in our own homes". T he government also started to replace programs the Church previously ran, which included hospital insurance, pension schemes and the beginning of Medi-Care. For these programs, the Quebec Liberals had to struggle with Ottawa for a larger share of the tax dollars. One of the greatest reforms was the modernization of the entire school system. The Church used to own the schools of Quebec. Most of the teachers were Priests, Nuns and Brothers. They provided a good education but Quebec needed more in business and technology. Lesage wanted a government-run school system that would provide Quebec with people in engineering, science, business and commerce. With the new freedom of expression, lots of books, plays and music about French culture were all developed in Quebec. French contemporary playwrights were very famous during that time. However, not all was going well in Quebec. The French-English relation was going bad. Many studies showed that French-Canadian Quebecers were earning the lo west wage in all of the ethnic groups in Canada. Other complaints were that the top jobs in Quebec were given to English speaking Canadians. Canada was going through the worst crisis in its history, and unless equal partnership was found a break-up would likely happen. Some Quebecers thought that separation was the only solution. They thought that as long as Quebec was associated with the rest of Canada, French-Canadians would never be treated equal. The FLQ (Front De Lib?ration Du Qu?bec) was founded in 1963. It was a smaller, more forceful group of separatists. They were a collection of groups of young people whose idea was to use terrorism to achieve independence for Quebec. The ALQ (L'Arm?e de Lib?ration de Quebec) was even more of a violent separatist group. Some of their actions included robbing banks in order to get money. For their ammunition they had to raid arms depots of the Canadian Armed Forces. There were many Federalists that believed that separatism had no future and that French-Canadians could play a role in a bi-lingual Canada. There were three Quebec men that believed in Federalism. These men were Liberals and their names were Pierre Trudeau, Jean Marchand and G?rard Pelletier. The President of France, General De Gaulle came to Quebec in 1967 and gave speeches to separatist groups that deemed him an enthusiast of the thoughts of the separatists in the struggle to fight for the liberation of Quebec. The Prime Minister at the time, Lester B. Pearson, criticized De Gaulle's remarks and said that Quebec belonged to Canada and there was no need for their liberation. In 1970, British Trade Commissioner James R. Cross was kidnapped by FLQ and wanted in return for Cross, 23 political prisoners. Quebec Labour Minister, Pierre Laporte was also kidnapped which started a Quebec crisis. After a few months Cross returned when Laporte was assassinated. The Quebec crisis ended several years of violence in Quebec. This crisis made many Quebecers upset becaus e Ottawa sent the army into Quebec. Therefore English-French turmoil did not end. Rene Levesque was a leader who became very popular in Quebec with his views on independence. In 1976, Rene Levesque and the Parti Quebecois won the Provincial election. Now many Quebecers thought he could build up Quebec. Since many French

Human Resource Planning Proposal for Harbour IT Asia Essay Example

Human Resource Planning Proposal for Harbour IT Asia Essay Example Human Resource Planning Proposal for Harbour IT Asia Paper Human Resource Planning Proposal for Harbour IT Asia Paper Recently, the company established a branch office in Artists Center, Passing City Philippines? effectively transitioning from renting an office and outsourcing employees, to absorbing these employees into official members of the Harbor IT team. This company is called Harbor IT Asia. Since 2012, Harbor IT Asia has hired two Human Resource Managers to create a Human Resource Management plan for the company, but both have since resigned. This proposal Is an analysis on the company and Includes a Human Resource Management plan. Keywords: Harbor IT, Harbor IT Asia, IT Company, human resources, proposal 3 Company Goals Harbor IT Asia aims to differentiate itself by providing customer service excellence in everything it does in the Managed IT Services Professional Solutions Industry. Harbor IT Asia is committed to the highest standards of ethics, integrity and behavior and to always act in a professional and courteous manner, and adheres to the core values: of Customer Service Excellence, Customer Service Responsibility, Delivery Timeliness and Availability, Courtesy, Honesty and Fairness, Team Spirit, and Meeting the Challenge. Scan the Environment Workforce analysis. Harbor IT Asia currently employs 62 people. Out of the 62, there are 31 males and 31 female employees. The employees age range from 20 to 48 years of age with majority of the employees falling in the 25 to 35 age range. 15 per cent (15%) of the Taft are in management, while the rest are experienced employees. Internal scan. Harbor IT Asia does not currently have its own Employee Manual and are using the existing employee manual provided by Multinational Corporation. Before establishing itself as a separate entity, Harbor IT Asia used to rent office space and source employees and other resources through Multinational Corporation. Looking at the environment, there is also an obvious division between the two departments within Harbor IT Asia?offshore and Internal. Offshore are less in number and have no interaction at all in their working relationship with the Internal Taft. They tend to have separate team building activities and are allocated their own budget for these occasions. Several of the Offshore staff also have a more flexible 4 schedule, with the option to have full flexible hours or to work from home. The Internal staff, however, although more in number, are also divided into its own silos. There is an unspoken competition between the four Service Desk teams, and the teams are also distant from the IT Operations and Accounts teams. There is also an obvious display of favoritism within the company, with the Country Manager being pen with his close relationships to a few of the staff, and give preferential treatment. The leaders of the teams also do not seem to set an example to their staff, and prefer to work on an independent manner, which in turn affects the team and fosters an every man for himself attitude. External scan. Current workforce trends show that there are more and more Australian companies that choose to move their operations to the Philippines. This means that there will be an increase in applicants because there will be more people from call centers and Boos who prefer applying for Australian accounts because of the schedule. Australia is only two hours ahead of the Philippines, so the time difference is not as drastic when compared to working for companies in the US. However, with the nature of high level of IT knowledge and understanding. This may narrow down the applicants quite a bit. Another factor is understanding the Australian accent. People that are used to listening to American English or the neutral accent will initially be taken aback by how difficult the Australian accent sounds like, as well as the colloquial words that are commonly used in Australian conversation. However, compared to Harbor IT Asia, other companies provide better benefit. Harbor IT Asia does not provide employees with an allowance therefore their entire pay is taxed and will lead to deductions. Conduct a Gap Analysis 5 Current Human Resource requirements include hiring a Service Desk Manager to oversee the operations of the Internal Service Desk teams since currently the team leaders are reporting directly to the Country Manager. Also a requirement is the need for a Human Resources Manager to design and implement the Human Resource Plan and to facilitate and guide employees and team leaders with the duties and responsibilities. The Human Resources Manager will also need at least one full-time staff member to assist her with her duties. A full-time company nurse is also an essential. With the current lack of direction in career growth in Harbor IT Asia and without a wildebeests and balanced compensation program, it is expected that employees will resign from the company after an average of two years. This should be anticipated and training should begin to take place between departments to more specialized skill sets. Without movement, it is recommended that the company begin to practice Job sharing to facilitate in pickling and fully raining all of the employees across the company. It should also be noted that most of the employees fall within the same age range, so it is very likely that a majority will retire at the same time or within 1-5 years of one another. This should also be prepared for and younger employees should be considered in their applications. Set Human Resource Priorities to Help Achieve the Company Goals It was determined that employee happiness and retention should be prioritize in the Human Resource Plan. Strategies to improve retention would be increasing or adding additional benefits to the employees, for example, providing employees on graveyard shifts with transportation allowance, increasing the amount of the free lunch benefit, adding clothing allowance to allow the employees to purchase business casual clothing for work days, and waiving the monthly fee for at least two dependents. The next item that the Human Resource plan should prioritize is the Employee Manual or handbook. All policies and procedures of the company should be detailed in this handbook, including due process and the hierarchy of disciplinary action. This should also be uniform and standardized across the company and the results should be the same across all apartments. Measure, Monitor and Report on Progress Feedback forms should be provided to all employees which will be anonymously recorded and the benefit or feature that scores the highest votes will be prioritize and approval and Justification will be submitted to the Country Manager. In addition to this, there should be a space left available in the form that will allow employees to input their own suggestions aside from the existing items provided. The Employee Manual should be completed within the next six (6) months. All employees will be informed when the Employee Manual has been completed and Team Leaders and there members of Management should then be trained to ensure that they are completely aware of the plans and policies. Once the Team Leaders and Management have been trained, they should then conduct meetings with their team members to educate every employee on the plans and policies. The Team Leaders should then have the employee sign an Acknowledgement Form to ensure that this has been read and understood and should be filed with the Human Resource Manager. Succession Planning With the current lack of a definite career plan at Harbor IT Asia, it is recommended that Succession Planning should be implemented. Identifying Key Positions There are two criterion when identifying key positions. Criticality. Critical positions are identified as positions that would have significant impact on the organizations ability to conduct normal business once vacated. Critical positions at Harbor IT Asia 7 include the Accountant, the Team Leaders. It has also been identified that if a number of Service Desk Analysts are to become unavailable, there will be a great impact on the business. Retention risk. This refers to positions where the departure of an employee is expected or likely. Positions with this a high retention risk include Service Desk Analysts. Identifying Competencies Each position has its unique set of knowledge, skills, and abilities (Asks). Accountant. The Accountant holds the responsibility of running the accounting department at places such as financial institutions, corporate businesses or educational facilities. Prospective supervisors generally must have a minimum of a bachelors degree and adequate field experience. Job description. Department workers. In addition to clerical and managerial work, the Accountant also participates in basic accounting functions, such as logging payments and maintaining financial records. In addition to maintaining regulations and laws of accounting procedures, the Accountant also carries out financial auditing procedures. The Accountant must be able to effectively communicate with employees and maintain a positive working relationship when addressing problems and coming up with solutions. Job specifications. The Accountants general duties include assessing accuracy of accounting data, fielding questions directed at accounts payable and receivable, keeping track of records and processing transfers. The Accountant may also prepare Journal entries, log data into spreadsheets and communicate with outside 8 financial institutions, such as banks and lenders. The Accountant can also be in charge of ordering supplies and office equipment, depending on the size of the company. Country Manager. The Country Manager will be responsible for payroll, grant report entry, managing the organizations Human Resources, helping and creating organizational and program budgets and other miscellaneous tasks. Job description. The Country Manager will report directly to the Shared Services Manager and to the Management Staff in Sydney and serves as a member of the Management Team. This positions primary responsibility is ensuring organizational effectiveness by providing dervish for the organizations financial functions. Working with the management team, the position also contributes to the development and implementation of organizational strategies, policies and practices. Job specifications. The Country Manager will work to improve the operational systems, processes and policies in support of organizations mission?specifically, support better management reporting, information flow and management, business process and organizational planning. He should also manage and increase the effectiveness and efficiency of all departments through improvements to each function as well as ordination and communication between support and business functions. He plays a significant role in long-term planning, including an initiative geared toward operational excellence. The Country Manager also oversees overall financial management, planning, systems and controls and handles the management of the company budget in coordination with the Accountant. The Country Manager will be in charge of payroll management, including tabulation of accrued employee benefits and will attend regular meetings with the Shared Services Manager around fiscal planning. He should also supervise and coach team leaders on a weekly basis. Executive Assistant/Administrative Assistant. The Executive Assistant/Administrative Assistant is responsible for carrying out the daily activities of the executive office to deliver an excellent staff experience while providing secretarial support, managing the mail, and carrying out filing. The Executive Assistant/Administrative Assistant provides high-level administrative support by conducting research, preparing statistical reports, handling information requests, and performing clerical functions such as preparing correspondence, receiving visitors, arranging conference calls, and scheduling meetings. May also train and supervise lower-level clerical staff. Job specifications. The Executive Assistant/Administrative Assistant will be in charge of managing the day-to-day operations of the office; organizing and maintaining files and records; planning and scheduling meetings and appointments; managing projects and conducting research; preparing and editing correspondence, reports, and presentations; making travel and guest arrangements; and providing quality customer service. IT Operations Technician. IT Operations Technicians perform administrative duties and other functions that alp streamline the daily business operations of an organization. IT Operations Technicians work with their team leader and other personnel to help keep businesses running smoothly. 10 Job specifications. The IT Operations Technicians maintain local inventory and software licenses, monitors for security compliance in accordance with company protocols, maintain all systems documentation such as warranty information, telephony system user guides and more, install, maintain, repair and replace IT hardware and software, monitors data backups in offices to ensure business continuity in the event of a disaster or reward failure. IT Operations Team Leader The IT Operations Team Leader is responsible for all of the planning, implementation, maintenance and repair of an information technology system including the management of IT personnel. Job description. The IT Operations Team Leader ensures the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the IT systems. They ensure that their team is correctly following procedures and processes and that maintenance and operations is done on a timely basis. Rivers related network to ensure availability of services to authorized users. Junior Systems Administrator. The Junior Systems Administrator will assist the Systems Administrator in his day to day tasks and responsibilities. Programmer. The Programmer creates and modifies computer programs by converting project requirements into code. 11 The Programmer will create software and applications for the company or the clients business purposes according to the specifications, depending on the programmers expertise. Job specifications . The Programmer confirms project requirements by reviewing program objective, input data, and output requirements with analyst, supervisor, and client; arranges reject requirements in programming sequence by analyzing requirements; preparing a work flow chart and diagram using knowledge of computer capabilities, subject matter, programming language, and logic; encodes project requirements by converting work flow information into computer language; programs the computer by entering coded information; confirms program operation by conducting tests; modifying program sequence and/or codes; prepares reference for users by writing operating instructions; maintains historical records by documenting program development and revisions; maintains client confidence and protects operations by peeping information confidential; ensures operation of equipment by following manufacturers instructions; troubleshooting malfunctions; calling for repairs; and evaluating new equipment and techniques. Offsh ore Manager. The Offshore Manager has a similar Job description and Job specifications as the Country Manager, but is only applicable to his specific department. The Offshore Manager reports to the Country Manager. Recruitment Consultant. The Recruitment Consultant interviews applicants to determine their Job requirements and suitability for particular Jobs, assess their training needs and help employers to find suitable staff. Job description. 12 Recruitment Consultants attract candidates by drafting advertising copy for use in a wide range of media, as well as by networking, headhunting and through referrals. Them to their clients. Consultants also provide advice to both clients and candidates on salary levels, training requirements and career opportunities. Job specifications. The Recruitment Consultant will be involved in using sales, business development, marketing techniques and networking in order to attract business from client companies; visiting clients to build and develop relationships; developing a good understanding of client companies, their industry, what they do and their work culture and environment; advertising vacancies by drafting and placing adverts in a wide range of media, for example newspapers, websites, magazines; using social media to advertise positions, attract candidates and build relationships with candidates and employers; headhunting identifying and approaching suitable candidates who may already be in work; using candidate databases to match the right person to the clients vacancy; receiving and reviewing applications, managing interviews and tests and creating a shortlist of candidates for the client; requesting preferences and checking the suitability of applicants before submitting their details to the client; briefing t he candidate about the responsibilities, salary and benefits of the Job in question; preparing C.v. and correspondence to forward to clients in respect of suitable applicants; organizing interviews for candidates as requested by the client; informing candidates about the results of their interviews; negotiating pay and salary rates and finalizing arrangements between client and candidates; offering advice to both clients and candidates on pay rates, training and career progression; irking towards and exceeding targets that may relate to the number of candidates placed, a value to be billed to clients or business leads generated; reviewing recruitment policies to ensure effectiveness of selection techniques and recruitment programs. Reports Analyst. 3 Reports analysts develop systems and standards for business reports. They must be experts in data management and software engineering and be able to coordinate effectively with the needs of multiple departments. Job description Reports analysts examine the unique needs and concerns of a business to develop relevant practices and procedures for preparing business reports. This includes creating and maintaining efficient and secure systems for recording data and producing relevant documentation. Reports analysts also train workers in the use of these systems, teaching them to prepare reports and properly utilize report data. Job specifications. The Reports Analyst examines and evaluates purpose and content of business reports to develop new, or improve existing format, use, and control; reviews reports to determine basic characteristics, such as origin and report flow, format, frequency, distribution and purpose or function of report; confers with persons originating, middling, processing, or receiving reports to identify problems and to gather operating practices, records retention schedules, and office equipment layout; recommends establishment of new or modified reporting methods and procedures to improve report content and completeness of information; prepares and issues instructions concerning generation, completion, and distribution of reports according to new or revised practices, procedures, or policies of reports management. Sales Associate. Sales associates provide fast, friendly service by actively seeking out customers to assess their needs and provide assistance. Sales associates have an emphasis on department and product knowledge, providing information on product features, and knowing related items to sell a specific product or service. Job description. 14 Sales associates require excellent communication abilities, superb customer service and the ability to count, read and write different documents. The Sales Associate will be tasked to identify prospects from the database provided by the company; calls prospective customers by operating telephone equipment, automatic dialing systems, and other telecommunications technologies; influences customers to buy products and services by following a prepared sales talk to give service and product information and price quotations; completes orders by recording names, addresses, and purchases; referring orders for filling; secures information by completing data base backups. Sales Support. People that work in Sales Support will undertake administration and other office duties that leave the sales team free to focus on the busy business of selling. Job description. Employees in Sales Support will do daily administration tasks and after-sales activities to allow the sales team to continue to sell without having to interrupt their ark. Job specifications. Sales Support are in charge of processing new sales leads, managing the correspondence between the sales team and their clients, monitoring customer accounts, providing data and reports to help the sales team, keeping track of sales targets, answering phone calls and inquiries and appointment setting. Service Desk Analyst. The Service Desk Analyst provides first line of support to users and escalate to where necessary. Job description. 15 internal staff. The Service Desk Analyst will require an aptitude for working with applications/systems to undertake analysis, diagnosis and resolution of IT problems, which may range from straightforward to more complicated technical issues. There is also a range of administration duties within this role. Job specifications. The Service Desk Analyst will take on tasks like logging, validating and diagnosing customer issues, on the full range of products and applications provided to the customer; providing the customer with a solution through information gathering, analytical troubleshooting and problem research, or to route or escalate the call to the appropriate resolution group. The Service Desk Analyst will also take on escalation and management of calls to agreed service levels and will need to be expensive to clients while following the principles and procedures of the quality management system. They will also need to identify and analyze problems and suggest improvements identified in their own area of responsibility and implementing those with a recognized business benefit. Service Desk Team Leader. The Service Desk Team Leader will be the supervisor in charge of a team of Service Desk Analysts. The Service Desk Team Leader will manage the performance of services to customers and ensure that service levels are achieved in line with contracts. The team leader will also ensure that customer expectations are met or exceeded. The Service Desk Team Leader will be ultimately responsible for ownership of all customers incidents or logged service requests; track the incidents to conclusion in line with Service Level Agreements (Slash) and quality standards; manage critical customers incidents, associated to customer 16 communication, activities and any appropriate escalations; provide information about incidents analysis and Key Performance Indicators (Kips); build services relationship with customers and conduct service reviews for key customers; review performance reports, service improvements, service quality and processes; and provide management and performance reports. The Systems Administrator is responsible for effective provisioning, installation/ configuration, operation, and maintenance of systems hardware and software and related infrastructure. Job description. The Systems Administrator participates in technical research and development to enable continuing innovation within the infrastructure. He ensures that system hardware, operating systems, software systems, and related procedures adhere to organizational values. Job specifications. The Systems Administrator will be in charge of engineering of solutions for various

Platos Atlantis as Told in His Socratic Dialogues

Plato's Atlantis as Told in His Socratic Dialogues The original story of the lost island of Atlantis comes to us from two Socratic dialogues called Timaeus and Critias, both written about 360 BCE by the Greek philosopher Plato. Together the dialogues are a festival speech, prepared by Plato to be told on the day of the Panathenaea, in honor of the goddess Athena. They describe a meeting of men who had met the previous day to hear Socrates describe the ideal state. A Socratic Dialogue According to the dialogues, Socrates asked three men to meet him on this day: Timaeus of Locri, Hermocrates of Syracuse, and Critias of Athens. Socrates asked the men to tell him stories about how ancient Athens interacted with other states. The first to report was Critias, who told how his grandfather had met with the Athenian poet and lawgiver  Solon, one of the Seven Sages. Solon had been to Egypt where priests had compared Egypt and Athens and talked about the gods and legends of both lands. One such Egyptian story was about Atlantis. The Atlantis tale is part of a  Socratic dialogue, not a historical treatise. The story is preceded by an account of Helios the sun gods son Phaethon yoking horses to his fathers chariot and then driving them through the sky and scorching the earth. Rather than exact reporting of past events, the Atlantis story describes an impossible set of circumstances which were designed by Plato to represent how a miniature utopia failed and became a lesson to us defining the proper behavior of a state. The Tale According to the Egyptians, or rather what Plato described Critias reporting what his grandfather was told by Solon who heard it from the Egyptians, once upon a time, there was a mighty power based on an island in the Atlantic Ocean. This empire was called Atlantis, and it ruled over several other islands and parts of the continents of Africa and Europe. Atlantis was arranged in concentric rings of alternating water and land. The soil was rich, said Critias, the engineers technically accomplished, the architecture extravagant with baths, harbor installations, and barracks. The central plain outside the city had canals and a magnificent irrigation system. Atlantis had kings and a civil administration, as well as an organized military. Their rituals matched Athens for bull-baiting, sacrifice, and prayer. But then it waged an unprovoked imperialistic war on the remainder of Asia and Europe. When Atlantis attacked, Athens showed its excellence as the leader of the Greeks, the much smaller city-state the only power to stand against Atlantis. Alone, Athens triumphed over the invading Atlantean forces, defeating the enemy, preventing the free from being enslaved, and freeing those who had been enslaved. After the battle, there were violent earthquakes and floods, and Atlantis sank into the sea, and all the Athenian warriors were swallowed up by the earth. Is Atlantis Based on a Real Island? The Atlantis story is clearly a parable: Platos myth is of two cities which compete with each other, not on legal grounds but rather cultural and political confrontation and ultimately war. A small but just city (an Ur-Athens) triumphs over a mighty aggressor (Atlantis). The story also features a cultural war between wealth and modesty, between a maritime and an agrarian society, and between an engineering science and a spiritual force. Atlantis as a concentric-ringed island in the Atlantic which sank under the sea is almost certainly a fiction based on some ancient political realities. Scholars have suggested that the idea of Atlantis as an aggressive barbarian civilization is a reference to either Persia or Carthage, both of them military powers who had imperialistic notions. The explosive disappearance of an island might have been a reference to the eruption of Minoan Santorini. Atlantis as a tale really should be considered a myth, and one that closely correlates with Platos notions of The Republic examining the deteriorating cycle of life in a state. Sources DuÃ… ¡anic S. 1982. Platos Atlantis. LAntiquità © Classique 51:25-52.Morgan KA. 1998. Designer History: Platos Atlantis Story and Fourth-Century Ideology. The Journal of Hellenic Studies 118:101-118.Rosenmeyer TG. 1956. Platos Atlantis Myth: Timaeus or Critias? Phoenix 10(4):163-172.

A Speech on Bullying in Schools Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A Speech on Bullying in Schools - Assignment Example According to the research findings, it can, therefore, be said that bullying among students takes various forms, such as physical, emotional, verbal or cyber harassment. This implies that the victims may experience harassment in any form that is prevalent in their schools. The researcher would like to tell that the physical and verbal forms are common with the boys while girls normally use the emotional and verbal tendencies. The cyberbullying aspect is also on the rise because of the advent of the social media networks where students interact with their peers and strangers. Similarly, both girls and boys can still apply the other forms of bullying that they like and depend on environmental and background factors. The researcher states that bullies are always known individuals, especially the popular students. They take advantage of their popularity and seniority within the school to harass others for their own personal interests. This also takes place in the presence of other studen ts who might influence the action to proceed or be prevalent in their school. The parents should try to mold their children to embrace good manners and know how to relate to others. It is also appropriate for the teachers to encourage the students to speak out whenever something like bullying happens. Bullying poses negative consequences in schools and affects the bullies and the victims in similar measures. For instance, bullying can derail a student’s academic performance due to the psychological effects and physical injuries. The mental well being of a student is vital for academics and socialization since he or she feels comfortable learning in that environment. The other undesirable consequence of bullying is that it can make a student skip classes for fear of victimization. This happens if the administration does not control the bullying activities and the students feel the school is not the right place. They end up missing classes, which drops their academic performanc e.

Subsidiarity in the EU and Federalism Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Subsidiarity in the EU and Federalism - Thesis Example tem of governance with substate/s autonomously operating in a decentralized manner and yet still connected to central government in a collaborative governance. From the historical vantage, the principle of subsidiarity was first introduced by the Treaty of Maastricht, also known as Treaty of European Union (TEU) signed at Maastricht town in 1991, with its elaborate applications explicated through the protocol stipulated in the Treaty of Amsterdam (Eurofound, 2010a). This was perceived to be the turning point of EU integration (Eurofound, 2010a). This paper aims to discuss the theory of subsidiarity of Britain within the light of Germany and United States experiences. The TEU offered a commitment from the European Council (EC) to full Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), provision for European Central Bank, and the establishment of the ‘three-pillar’ structures. These pillars are the European Council, Common Foreign and Security Policy, and Cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs (Eurofound, 2010a). Under EMU, the definition of community was broadened to include the convergence of economic laws, social protection, and of the development of socio-economic cohesion (Eurofound, 2010a). The council have also set monetary policy, coordination with convergence criteria and a single currency (Eurofound, 2010a). Anent thereto was the establishment of institutional reform increased the legislative power of the parliament with the introduction of co-decision processes (Eurofound, 2010a). The Treaty of Amsterdam, on the other hand, was signed on 2 October 1997 by the Foreign Ministers of 15 EU member states and became effective when they ratified this in accordance to their constitutional policies (Eurofound, 2010b). The Treaty of Amsterdam of 1997 substantially amended the three pillar structure of Treaty on European Union to include relevant matters on employment and industrial relations; the acquis  of the 1985 Schengen Treaty pertaining to gradual abolition of common

Operation Management Analysis Of Hard Rock Cafe Brand Tourism Essay

Operation Management Analysis Of Hard Rock Cafe Brand Tourism Essay Hard Rock Cafe is a success story in operation management . From its very first London pub in 1971 , after 39 years of existence Hard Rock cafe continued expanding and succeeding in many different countries. This paper will discuss how the 10 decisions of the Operation management were made on Hard Rock Cafe as well as operation management challenges and opportunities confronting Hard Rock Cafe when considering an expansion of its business in Hanoi. Critical evaluation of the operation management strategy of Hard Rock Cafe as described in the case materials. With the mission to spread out the spirit of rock n roll by delivering creating authentic experiences that rock, Hard Rock cafe has won continued success since it was founded in June 14, 1971 when the rock music was explosive in England. Hard Rock Cafe has uniqueness and more importantly it has launched an excellent strategy in operation management. Hard Rock cafe strategy is to provide not only a custom meal from the menu, but a dining event that includes a unique visual and sound experience not duplicated anywhere in the world. (1) That strategy has helped Hard rock cafe grow from its first Cafe to 129 world wide locations. Bellow is the discussion on some out of 10 decisions of opreration management run on Hard Rock Cafe. Taking the success of the Hard Rock Cafe into consideration means considering its service quality and product design. The Cafe offers a range of services from cafes, live music, Rock concerts to hotels and casinos. They serve customer by modifying the menu from classic American burgers and chicken wings- to include higher-end items such as stuff veal chops and lobster tail ( P.56). And of course, its quality must be the top charts. They always usually change their menu based on the frequent customer survey and localized food taste. Surveys are done on a regular basis to evaluate quality of food and service at the cafe. Scores are rated on a 1 to 7 scale. And if the score is not a 7, the food or service is a failure (Jay Barry, n.d,P.56). Hard Rock not simply offers meals and drink, it provides a unique different experience in each location. Experiences are not exclusive about entertainment; company stage an experience whenever they engage customers in a personal and memorable way. (Harvard Business Review, Welcome to the experience economy, B,Joseph Pine II Jame H. Gilmore, 1998) Surely, the key has driven Hard Rock Cafe to success is to build a standard of quality and keep its product and service meet the standard. One factor that brings success to Hard Rock Cafe is Human resource strategy.   Based on their specific services, from the recruitment Hard Rock Cafe looks for people who are passionate with music, like to serve people and have ability to tell story. Hard Rock builds on a hiring criterion of bright, positive attitude, self-motivated individuals with an employee bill of rights and substantial employee power. These people will surely inspire customer and make them happy. Hard Rock Cafe also created a great working environment with people who have the same interest but different personality. Besides, training plan is also a very good strategy at Hard Rock. The companys training is very specific, with job-oriented interactive CDs covering kitchen, retail, and front of the house service.   Through the training, employees improve themselves both personally and professionally. Staffs are highly motivated because they can see their opportunities in Hard Rock even they are from a low level as 60% of the managers here are promoted from part time staff. Such strate gies have reveaved that the Cafe really cares about their employees and their employees do not only come for money but also to obtain job satisfaction. Because location is such a significant cost and revenue driver, location often has the power to make (or break) a companys business strategy (Jay Barry, n.d, P.364) therefore, Hard Rock Cafe has been spending much time and great efforts to analyze location whenever they want to open a new Cafe. Focusing on tourists and people who love music therefore demographics, visitor market, transportation, restaurants/night clubs and political risk are emphasized factors for researching to make sure that Hard Rock Cafe is located in a convenient place for their potential customers. The analysis also helps them have a long term investment in each Hard Rock cafe. Every opened cafe is a result of an extremely careful decision after investigating the target markets, the proper places and considering the future success in a long period of time. Therefore, location contributes a crucial role in expanding Hard Rock Cafe popularity to world-wide nowadays. The layout is also another important decision that management has to make. The kitchen is set up to be not just only a normal kitchen but also a comfortable working space for all the staff. The kitchen flows are designed in order to make sure that the chief, waiters and waitresses have enough space to do their work. The bar and restaurant are designed to bring the highest income for Hard Rock Cafe. The installation of lighting, sound, screens, music and circulation paths is in order to praise memorabilia and as a result, customers are convinced to buy souvenirs naturally. In fact, the retail shops produce about half the companys profit and they are always displayed at eye-catching areas such as within the restaurant space, flow and work stations. Its obviously that scheduling is one of the most important decisions at Hard Rock Cafe. With Mr. Ken Hoffman, Hard Rocks General manager takes scheduling very serious. There are some factors that affect sales that Ken Hoffman cares when he makes schedule. The number of occupied rooms in nearby hotels is important because not all guests will have dinner in the Hotels. They will look for dinning spots and of course Hard Rock cafe will be their destination because of it uniqueness and well-known. The next factor that they consider is how many events will occur in the area. The third one is they examine the sales at the same day of previous year. Another factor that Hard Rock Cafe takes into account is the entree sales data, each entree is present 1 customer. With the result of the forecast, Hard Rock Cafe estimates the number of guest will come and they can have an appropriate plan on staffing and menu. There is a fact that inventory management is a different side of Hard Rock cafe. It is not too much when saying that the collection of rock and memorabilia is a trademark that makes Hard Rock cafe widespread everywhere around the world.  Customers come to Hard Rock Cafe not only for the meals they serve there but also for the items of their favorite artists that they can find on the cafe walls. These items;  including autographed guitars, outfits from world tours and rare photographs;  are collected and taken care by a special group in Orlando. They manage every single item with every single history, know exactly which item is being exhibit in which cafe on which wall through an inventory system using advantaged technology. An life circle of the exhibition of an item is around 5 to 7 years. After these years, the item is brought back to Orlando and renovated while another item is being replace it on the wall Hard Rock Cafe has lunched the first restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City through franchise license bought by Viet Thai International Company (VTI). This restaurant chain has been successful for since 1971 and in more than 166 worldwide locations. It seems that after a year launching, Hard Rock Cafe Vietnam (HRCVN) is on a right direction to the success. VIT (HRCFVN franchisee) has also a long term vision to expand the chain in Vietnam. Director of VIT announced on the launching day that his company will have at least two more Hard Rock Cafe in Vietnam in 2012, one in Hanoi and another one in Dang Nang city (Rock Passion, 2010. n.d.). In order to evaluate if HRCFVN will be a successful model in Hanoi, this writing will examine opportunities and challenges for HRCFVN based on its some key decisions of operation managements. Goods Services Design: As franchise, HRCFVN has been benefited from Hard Cafe international in providing the best quality of goods and services for its customers. Hard Rock Cafe Ho Chi Minh city can served more than 500 customers at the same time, as a result, if Hard Rock Cafe expand its business in Hanoi, this scale would be considered to apply. This would be a good point to served big events and parties meanwhile not many restaurants in Hanoi are large enough. Based on menu of Hard Rock Cafe Ho Chi Minh, they are offering a very diversified and good menu from drinks to eats and even a special menu for kids. These is only one thing that would be a challenge for drinks and eats menu is that the Northern foods are quite deferent with the South. The restaurant needs to do researches to make food and drinks suitable for the Northern peoples taste. Besides, a series of rock t-shirts and pins collections are also offering at Rock Shop. This is unique selling point which is no single restaurant in Hanoi can offer. This would offer Rock lovers opportunities to own a rock t-shirts. As Hard Rock cafe is changing its strategy to response to operation management, they believe that they dont sell meals or drinks, Hard Rock Cafe offers an unique different experience (Hard Rock Cafe Mission). At HRCF Ho Chi Minh, they are offering Rock n Roll memorabilia with hundreds of pieces of guitar, dress of Rock n Roll legends such as John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Pantera, Kiss, Van Halen, Motorhead, Pearl Jam, Eagles, Scorpions, Jon Bon Jovi, Steven Tyler, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley. By offering these items in Hanoi, it would be another key point to pull customers coming to the restaurant. Regarding service design, as Jey and Barry comment that designing services is challenging because they often have unique characteristics and in reality. Seeing s ervice quality point only, there is a big gap if compare Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Service quality in Ho Chi Minh city is always evaluated much better than Hanoi. It would be a challenged point for Hard Rock when they expand to this location. However, Hard Rock Cafe is well know in flexibility with the product, design and so many other aspects of their restaurants based on the local market they enter into. It means that they try to present themselves customizing things to the likes of their local customers. They empower the local franchisee to create their own unique Hard Rock Cafe that delivers unique  guest experience. There is no doubt that they would respect the tradition and culture of the locals and design your restaurant settings with that view in the mind. That would be a key to lead to the success when they do business in Hanoi. Quality Management: As franchisee, HRCFVN will be provided, guided and trained international management standard which Hard Rock Cafe is applying worldwide with almost 40 year experience. The local owner VIT will have many opportunities to learn how to manage Hard Rock Cafe in Ho Chi Minh and then apply key learning for location in Hanoi. In addition, VIT is also a big name in food and beverage industry in Vietnam. They are owning and operating High Land Coffee brand which has more than 60 high class coffee chain nationwide with more than ten years experience. They also have a high qualified management team who would be a good source for the business expand. Location:. It is clear that Vietnam in general and Hanoi in particular are a safe place to invest with high stable political conditions. Furthermore Vietnam is the second fastest economy growth in Asia Pacific with the 13rd largest population in the world. The capital of Vietnam is a good location to invest as the income of people is increasing quickly. As a result, customers would welcome a high end restaurant with deferent selling points as Hard Rock Cafe even they have to pay more. Besides, Vietnamese society is more open with Western life style, thus in term of social norm, it is not hard for customers to experience a new style in town. There is an another key point that need to clarify that any restaurant must pay much consideration location of restaurant. Location is sometime considered counting up to 80 percent of successful opportunity in restaurant business. In fact that Hanoi is now hard to find a good location to Hard Rock as good and convenient venues are been already occupying by other competitors. Thought the current owner of Hard Rock cafe Vietnam is very successful in finding perfect location for their High Land Coffee chain, but to open a Hard Roack cafe would be definitely harder because they need a much larger location than a coffee shop. Supply Chain Management: It is not difficult to find a qualified suplier who can provide fresh, quality materials and products to the restaurant. Metro supermarket (a giant wholesales supermaket from Garmany) has at leat two distribution centers in Hanoi which are current main suppliers for five star hotels and retaurants in the city. In addition, there are ten of smaller supliers who can meet whatever Hard Cafes demands. The distant from Metro and other suppliers to the dowtown of Hanoi is around 15km, 40 minutes for trucks or vans reaching any place in the city to provide foods and drinks on time. There is a taugher task which would be a moving the memorabilia among locations to change the experience every time a guest visit. This is a key point in supply chain to create the best circulation items among its members. Human Resources: It is a strengthen point if Hard Cafe expand its business to Hanoi. As one of the best high end coffee chain, VIT has a large number of qualified employees who are ready to start these project as key members. In reality, VIT has several other restaurant projects and they have successfully used their current human sources to solve one of the most difficult tasks in any business ventures people question. Regarding recruitment of employees who are are passionate about music, love to serve and convey the experience to customers, it is not a big challenge as Hanoi labor force are young and well educated. The recuitment can target to hundred of thousand students who are learning at ten of colleages and universities in Hanoi. These targeted employees are passionate to RocknRoll lyfe style and would be the best front liners to spread the spirit of this concept to local customers. As an international restaurant chains, Hard Rock will provide professional training courses for local employees with international standards which will be opportunity point for Hard Cafe in Hanoi to have better employee team with international standard. Inventory Management: There is no big challenge for inventory of Hard Cafe as key supplier can be reached by in 40 minutes by vans and there are many alternative suppliers who ready provide and meet all demands. Thus, inventory should limit to minimize volume except special food and raw material which take time to import. Memorabilia are more challenge for Hard Rock inventory as it 0000 pieces will be circulated among 160 locations around the worlds. However, it seem that this work has been well organized by Hard Rock Cafe International with $40 million valued memorabilia are catalogued, each piece is known where to be (Gusa and Inci, 2008) Scheduling: Based on the current business model of Hard Rock Cafe in Ho Chi Minh city is offering full service event planning facility for all events. Catering, entertainment, and event merchandise can be customized to complement every event (Hard Rock Cafe HoChi Minh, n.d.). if this scale is applied to Hanoi location, this restaurant can be seen as a medium and large size in the city. All community event in the area will be targeted. With the unique and deferent point of sales, it is potential that Hard Rock Cafe would be a favorite venue for events related to young customers. However, there is only challenge can be seen that the restaurant will not be an attractive place for tourists, especially for those who come from Western countries. The reason can be explain that if you travel to The U.S, it would be good to explore Hard Rock Cafes Rock n Roll experience right in the home land of this music. However, this purpose will less attractive when the restaurant is locating in an Orien tal country likes Vietnam. It is also a challenge point that Hard Rock Cafe will take longer time to reach ROI (Return on Investment) points than Hard Rock Cafe in Ho Chi Minh city because, outside dining culture is more popular in Ho Chi Minh city. People spend much more budget to eat outside any place in Vietnam, particularly during the weekend. Second, Hard Rock Cafe needs to invest a large of capital to reach premium standard as requested by Franchiser. However, to expand business in Hanoi is a right direction and it should take action as soon as possible as they as have set successfully a first step in the main market of Vietnam.

“Animal Farm” by George Orwell Essay

Napoleon is the main character from the book Animal Farm written by George Orwell. He is a demanding, overpowering pig who always gets what he wants. In the book Napoleon is a common pig that gets rid of the pig that shares power with him, Snowball and takes over the leader ship of the farm which he later turns into a dictatorship. The difference between Napoleon and Snowball is what makes the book powerful and refers to what real people get manipulated easily. Napoleon is based on the real life person Joseph Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union for 30 years. The name Napoleon comes from the French general Napoleon Bonaparte, who was power crazy and a dictator. In the book Napoleon is a bad pig from the beginning. He fights along with his fellow pig, Snowball to free the farm from humans but later on starts making some suspicious decisions such as drinking the milk that the animals have worked for and taking the puppies of Jessie and Bluebell for himself. Napoleon takes over by sending his dogs after Snowball, who runs away, do to fear. Slowly but surely we see him take one step at a time towards the crown of being the only leader. For example he changes the seven Commandments rules against killing, drinking, and sleeping in bed. All the animals are forced to work just as hard as before the rebellion and they don’t even get enough food. Napoleon makes the other animals fear him by killing the animals that have made wrong decisions and starving some of them because they don’t do as he says. Soon enough everyone does as he wishes and behaves after his will. Napoleon praises himself for all the things that he has done for the animals which in the end is nothing.