Group Behaviour Meaning free essay sample

Gathering Behavior Meaning BY mohitl 2345 Group conduct significance Group conduct in human science alludes to the circumstances where individuals collaborate in enormous or little gatherings. The field of gathering elements manages little gatherings that may arrive at agreement and act in an organized manner. Gatherings of an enormous number of individuals in a given territory may act all the while to accomplish an objective that contrasts from what people would do acting alone (group conduct). An enormous gathering (a group or crowd) is probably going to show instances of gathering conduct when individuals assembled in a given spot and time act in a comparable way†for model, Joining dissent or walk, partaking in a battle or acting enthusiastically. Extraordinary types of huge gathering conduct are: * swarm mania * observers when a gathering of individuals assembled deliberately to take an interest in an occasion like performance center play, film, football coordinate, a show, and so on open special case to the standard that the gathering must involve the equivalent physical spot. We will compose a custom paper test on Gathering Behavior Meaning or on the other hand any comparative subject explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page People watching same station on TV may respond similarly, as they are involving a similar sort of spot before TV despite the fact that they may truly be doing this everywhere throughout the world. Gathering conduct varies from mass activities which alludes to individuals carrying on comparably on a progressively worldwide scale (for instance, customers in various shops), while bunch conduct alludes typically to individuals in a single spot. In the event that the gathering conduct is facilitated, at that point it is called bunch activity. Multitude insight is a unique instance of gathering conduct, alluding to the connection between a gathering of specialists so as to satisfy a given errand. This kind of gathering elements has gotten a lot of consideration by the delicate figuring network as the molecule swarm streamlining group of calculations.

Essay Topics - Developing a Topic Before Writing Your Essay

Essay Topics - Developing a Topic Before Writing Your EssayEssay topics are considered by most high school students as the first step in the writing process. The main purpose of essay topics is to lay out a theme for the entire essay.There are several different types of topics and essays, however they all have one thing in common; they help to open up a student's perspective and allow them to visualize their ideas clearly. Once this vision is created, the student can then be able to discuss the points and write coherent sentences. The process of developing an essay topic can begin even before the writing begins.Essay topics that are well thought out and complete, tend to attract the attention of readers much more than those that do not present a clear direction. Students that write in the most concise and easy to understand manner tend to have better success with essay topics. Therefore, it is important to spend time analyzing your own ideas and then crafting an essay topic that will meet the needs of the essay.There are several basic essay topics. Some of the more common are: history, science, culture, religion, and fiction. Some of these may seem obvious, however some are not. For example, if you are looking to write an essay on the subject of religion, you may find that the following topics may come into play: history, spirituality, social and political issues, and current events.When beginning to organize your theme, it is important to first identify the overall theme of the essay. In other words, once you have a general idea of the theme you want to express, it will be easier to select the necessary information and resources. If you are trying to cover a specific time frame, you will want to know what type of events and subjects were covered during that period of time. This will give you an idea of what you need to focus on during your particular topic.Basic essay topics usually begin with a personal statement or essay. An essay of this type is used to int roduce the reader to your topic and then to give the readers an idea of what they will be reading about. Essays are also used to provide examples or summaries of a concept that is being discussed.Once the students are beginning to develop the basic theme of their essay topics, it is time to begin writing the paper. Once you have an idea of the overall theme of the essay, the next step is to write the introduction and first paragraph. These two paragraphs are the basis of your entire essay.A proper introduction and first paragraph are necessary to get the reader excited about reading the rest of the paper. When a student gets too excited reading about something, it may prevent him or her from paying attention to the rest of the paper. Your introduction and first paragraph should demonstrate how the information provided in the paper relates to the overall theme.

Aquaculture Fish Resources

Questions: 1 What is a biological system way to deal with fisheries the board and where does aquaculture fit in?2 The best way to fulfill future requests for fish and shellfish will be through expanding aquaculture creation. Discuss.3 Describe the ongoing advances and limitations of cultivating a named animal types. What are the future creation possibilities for this species?4.Lack of the board, inadequate natural information and low preservation need are the greatest debilitations to elasmobranch protection. Talk about this announcement, supporting your contentions with examples.5 Describe the standards of MSE full-criticism reproduction, and clarify what sort of bits of knowledge can be gotten from it, if essential represented by (madeup)examples.6 .we have to stop disposes of, on the grounds that discarding nourishment in a ravenous world annihilates our picture and sabotages information assortment. Subsequently I propose to land all gets and count them as a detriment to amounts from M. Dama naki, EuropeanCommissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, introduction to the European Parliament. Examine the issues identifying with disposing of and whether you imagine that the proposed dispose of boycott under the Common Fisheries Reform (2012) is likely tobe powerful. Answers: 1. Aquaculture is the one of the areas for business creation of fishes adding to the greater part of the fishes delivered everywhere throughout the world through various ways providing fish assets to an enormous main part of worldwide populace. Keeping up supportability in aquaculture alludes to the creation of fishes without hurting the biological system and its different parts so that the environmental harmony between various amphibian life forms isn't intruded. The measures that ought to be considered so as to set up a manageable aquaculture framework are to set up an appropriate target and rationale in the upkeep of supportability during the improvement of the aquaculture and to guarantee that significant prudent methodologies are taken for the correct advancement of aquaculture segments (Bush et al. 2013). Others rules that ought to likewise be given be premier need are appropriate and right measure of feeds necessity as greater prerequisite builds the supplement load and less o utcomes in insufficient nourishment flexibly. Predator and prey communications between the different fishes and the sea-going life forms additionally ought to be appropriately judged. Legitimate observing ought to be done to maintain a strategic distance from the defenseless natural surroundings and high hazard territories as both the aquaculture and the earth may confront misfortune as far as asset the board. Contamination ought to be controlled. Appropriate administration ought to be done between the fisheries and aquaculture. Care ought to be given so as to accomplish significant level of government assistance in the aquaculture organizations. Appropriate arrangement by the specialists ought to be actualized without the nearness of any provisos so disparities as far as abundance asset use and obliteration of the biological system can be forestalled (Lazard et al 2014). 2. A biological system way to deal with asset the executives in fisheries can be depicted as those methodologies which would oversee then legitimate creation of fish assets to the current age remembering the target that would forestall the endangering of alternatives of accomplishing this asset by the people in the future so they can likewise appreciate the advantage from an assortment of scopes of products and ventures got from the amphibian assets. This can be very surely known by a model. Fisheries without a biological system approach have brought about lessening the wealth and bringing forth capability of the objective fishes because of spontaneous overfishing. Parameters like development, development and numerous others are likewise found to have been influenced (Jennings et al. 2014). Misuse of the assets by modifying the age, size, sex proportion, hereditary qualities and species piece of the objective assets seriously affected the natural strength. Poor administration and abs ence of maintainability arranging brought about overfishing breaking the strength of the environment hampering the assets. A biological system approach of asset the executives in aquaculture incorporates an arranged use of assortments of various fishes, mollusks, crabs, prawns, mussels and others in a biological system so an appropriate stable environment is available in the earth with appropriately kept up nourishment networks and natural ways of life so both the present and the people in the future can appreciate the fish assets without hurting the conveying limit of the earth and hurting the natural parity by over creation and misuse of the assets. A model can be given to portray the issues. An immense effect was found on the nourishment web of the types of the specific area. Business extraction of an objective animal groups brought about smashing down of the nourishment cycle hampering the normal biological equalization of the specific biome (Laugen et al. 2014). Different effects were additionally perceived from this training, for example, the absence of legitimate collaborations between the diverse fishery assets and the earth, no appropriate arranging of keeping up the maintainability while different fishery assets are used, poor administration strategies and spontaneous logical methodology bringing about decimation of the conveying limit of a specific biome. 3. Worldwide environmental change has been the main worry for countless naturalists in every aspect of explores as it had propounding impacts on each life form present on the earth and aquaculture has not been a special case from it. There is an ascent of temperature for around 4 degree Celsius from the preindustrial period and such ascent of temperature has influenced the dissemination of fishes in each water bodies on earth and has likewise influenced the profitability of the fishes. Keeping up supportability has gotten troublesome and has in this way influenced the networks whose living relies on aquaculture. Ascent of ocean level because of a dangerous atmospheric devation has influenced the beach front angling living spaces with the difference in precipitation design influencing the inland aquaculture frameworks (Bell et al 2013). Rising causticity in the seas influenced the creation of shrimps, shellfish, and corals as their shell arrangement gets influenced because of interrup tion in calcification procedures and loweing of Ph. Zooplanktons framing the base of marine natural pecking order gets influenced as they likewise have calcite cells. Comedian angles experience the ill effects of conduct issue as they lose their hearing capacity and making a decision about capacity to escape from predators and elaborate pisciculture additionally gets influenced (Merino et al. 2012). Rising degrees of ocean water frequently brings about floods and along the Mekong waterway the huge amounts of bhasha fish creation additionally gets influenced because of the saltwater interruption coming about because of rising ocean level and dams. 4. There are various contrasts between the lampreys and hagfishes. Lampreys abide in both new and marine water and can live as both parasite and nonparasite. It might grow up to 1 meter. Hagfish is just marine and lives just as parasite. Anyway like lampreys it additionally grows up to 1 meter. Lampreys body is less foul and is strong. It has a mouth which is terminal and pair of eyes are utilitarian. Anyway hagfish has weak body the skin is a lot of disgusting. The eyes are degenerative and the situation of the mouth is terminal (Nelson, Grande and Wilson 2016). Lampreys teeth are bigger and the tongue isn't all around created. It has a very much evolved mind and genders are independent. Anyway hagfish has very much evolved tongue, littler teeth, less created cerebrum and the genders are not discrete that is they are bisexual. Lamprey has 20 cranial nerves and furthermore has gill cuts which are 14 in number. Hagfishes show 16 cranial nerves and 2 gill cuts. The lamprey has salivary organs where they emit anticoagulant to evacuate the skin and substance of their prey and suck blood. The hagfishes for the most part are scroungers and eat dead fishes and don't have any salivary organs (Hardisty 2013). The improvement of lamprey is backhanded that is their lifecycle comprises of phases of advancement from hatchling. The hagfishes grow legitimately without experiencing the hatchling stage. 5. Disposing of in angling can be characterized as the procedure that is utilized to discharge those species which are discovered during the angling rehearses which are inadvertent and are in this manner disposed of in the water itself. Frequently this dispose of might contain other significant business species next to the objective species that outcomes in extra advantage to the fisher man. The by gets which are not significant are disposed of back basically because of the nearness of confined share and is affected by the decision of rigging or because of fishermans conduct (Bellman and Heery 2013). Measurement of disposed of is an exceptionally troublesome errands and results consistently appear to change. Appraisal is finished by the spectator present at the site and time of the disposes of and needs to take certain suppositions at the top of the priority list for right figuring. A direct connection between the all out arrivals and the disposes of must be fundamentally expected. From the dispose of rates that is concentrated from the complete arrivals of the fisheries, absolute amount of the disposes of is then determined. Under numerous conditions it is discovered that, dispose of paces of numerous nations are viewed as insignificant, for example, in distinctive and means fisheries while in estimating disposes of during fish angling requires information from worldwide fish the executives. Be that as it may, evaluation purposes require greater improvement particularly including physical bookkeeping and valuation of the environmental effects in a more extensive range. Equivalen t likelihood and likelihood corresponding are additionally transmitted t evaluate angles disposes of. Disposes of can be diminished by specialized, authoritative just as financial methods. Specialized methods contains improving the selectivity of fishes and taking out approaches to diminish non-target species or make it productive procedure to keep them. Gadgets and rigging alteration can help. Regulatory measure contains constraining the quantity of vehicle to inh

No Change to the HBS Application Essay

Last week, Dee  Leopold,  Harvard Business School’s Admissions Director, made three important announcements regarding the HBS MBA application for the class entering in August 2015. First, the optional essay question, or as Leopold refers to it, â€Å"the (optional) ‘essay’ question.† The question for the 2015 application will be: â€Å"You’re applying to Harvard Business School. We can see your resume, academic transcripts, extracurricular activities, awards, post-MBA career intentions, test scores, and what your recommenders have to say about you. What else would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy?† She then advices applicants: â€Å"Use your judgment as to how much to tell us. We dont have a ‘right answer’ or ’correct length’ in mind. We review all the elements of your written application to decide who moves forward to the interview stage.† As mentioned, this is the same question as last year. The plan was that every year Harvard would come up with a new optional question, but apparently, the adcom liked it so much, they backed out of the original plan and decided to keep the question. Second, in her blog post (which you can see in full here), Leopold also provides a sneak peek at the recommender questions, which are as follows: †¢ How do the candidates performance, potential, background, or personal qualities compare to those of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? Please provide specific examples. (300 words) †¢ Please describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicants response. (250 words) And finally, about the deadlines: †¢Ã‚  Round 1 deadline: September 9, 2014. This is approximately one week earlier than last year’s deadline and probably the earliest ever for Harvard’s round 1 due date. †¢Ã‚  Interviews (invite only): Mid-October through November †¢Ã‚  Notifications: Around December 10, 2014, also earlier than in previous years. The earlier response means that you will have more time to prepare round 2 applications, if you aren’t accepted. (It also means that the admissions committee will have more time to enjoy the holiday season.) Not sure how to tackle the HBS application? Don’t worry – as soon as the entire application is released (in mid-June), we’ll walk you through it with an updated tips post. In the meantime, here’s some advice based on last year’s HBS application: Harvard Business School 2014 MBA Essay Questions Tips. Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

A Tempest By William Shakespeare - 1263 Words

In Cà ©saire’s A Tempest one of the main characters, Prospero, decides to remain on the island with Caliban and live out the rest of his life there. He remains there because he thinks the island needs him to be its ruler. As time continues, we see the deterioration of his mind and body. He becomes feeble and weak. He appears to see opossums overrunning the island and he attacks them to protect civilization. Prospero seems to be hallucinating, and because of this can be seen as a crazy old man who has reached the end of his life. However, in this paper, I will argue that the opossums and other things he experiences aren’t just hallucinations he creates from being in a weakened state, but actually the realization of what he s done in the†¦show more content†¦He despises opossums, as he sees them as a creature â€Å"that pulls itself up by its own tail, the better to bite the hand that tears it from the darkness†, and he precedes to go on a wild spree shoo ting a gun in all directions. He claims to do so to â€Å"protect civilization† and that he cannot let his work perish. To him, the climate seems to have changed as well, as he claims it feels cold. It’s obvious that his old age plays some part in why he feels so drained and disoriented. However, despite slowly dying, he still tries to maintain control over the island and over Caliban. In his younger years, Prospero hated the fact that Caliban wanted to be free, and he actually even compared him to an opossum earlier in the final scene. He hated nature and music and the thought of people being able to run their own lives. To combat the things that he hated, he tortured and enslaved both Caliban and Ariel, and kept them from being happy. He didn’t believe the island would survive on its own, and he felt the need to be in control of everything. He never granted Caliban freedom, and even in his old age he believed that he could still control him. Because of his age , the past, and his state of mind, it’s possible that it is his subconscious dragging up his hidden fears and guilt in the form of opossums, creatures and the changing climate. Prospero’s deepest fears seem to be that of a loss of control, and of allowing others to have their own freedoms. He is

Leadership Skills For A Successful Homeland Security...

Exceptional leadership skills are compulsory for a successful Homeland Security workforce. Leadership has repeatedly shown to influence employee morale, productivity, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, stress and resilience (Committee on the Department of Homeland Security Workforce, 2013). Alternatively, poor leadership leads to increased stressors in the workplace (Kelloway et al., 2005). One can develop leadership skills by reflecting on past experiences, and differentiating instances which yielded both positive and negative outcomes. Over the discourse of this paper, leadership experiences in which I have encountered will be examined. For background, next year will be my tenth year working for the same DoD defense†¦show more content†¦To those with families, and other commitments, this could be challenging. It would have been helpful to us, if Leader 1 took the minimal leadership tasks seriously; for instance, performance appraisals. One cannot improve, i f they lack awareness of weaknesses. Performance appraisals, one of the few one-on-one times we had with Leader 1, was more or less just a check in the box. As long as the department work was getting done, in Leader 1’s eyes you were doing a fine job. There were no observations of areas which could use improvement. Given none of us are perfect and all happen to be mid-level employees, I found this to be a great disservice. Moreover, areas in which we thrived were merely glossed over without any recognition. Then there’s the day-to-day work week. Generally, we performed the same work functions without trying to throw a wrench in things (or in other words, create more work for the team). The monotony and redundancy became an issue for me. When we worked on unique team projects, it usually required collaboration with other departments in the organization. Leader 1’s, â€Å"do no little or no more than required attitude† would transfer to these proj ects as well, pitting us as the group that no one really wanted to work with. Despite Leader 1’s less than desirable leadership skills, he is revered by his peers as a subject matterShow MoreRelatedThe Vision Of The Department Of Homeland Security1611 Words   |  7 PagesChange in strategy The vision of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is â€Å"to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards† (United States Department of Homeland Security, 2015). To achieve this vision, DHS has developed five core missions these are, â€Å"to prevent terrorism and enhance security, to secure and manage US borders, to ensure and administer immigration laws, to safeguard and secure cyberspace, and to ensure resilience to disasters.† ToRead MoreImproving The International Hiring Process1370 Words   |  6 Pagescompensation benefits. Political savviness, interpersonal communication skills, conducting several briefings and benchmarking analyses were the various skills I developed in this position. While serving in this capacity, I faced challenges with working with diverse people with various ideas, backgrounds and past experiences that may drove them to be difficult. Therefore, sought out learning opportunities to further master my skills in leading changes and partnerships, and began to consider a futureRead MoreEffective Leadership in Public Safety1914 Words   |  8 PagesEffective Leadership in Public Safety Introduction As chief executive my role is to create and promote a culture that is responsive to the needs and concerns pertaining to public safety and service as required throughout the community. Effective leadership in public safety covers a wide number of issues that require a complex level of competences. This paper will demonstrate my understanding how the internal and external elements of public safety and service need to be managed as they relate toRead MoreEssay on Managing Organizational Change1052 Words   |  5 Pagesof the workforce, technology, economic shocks, competition, social trends, and world politics (Robbins Judge, 2011). In this post the author will explain the Kotter’s eight –step approaches to managing organizational change and discuss how his company handles the planned changes in term of organization reconstruction. When changes are inevitable, the leaders usually design some adequate steps to make the change go smooth, effective and permanently. Kurt Lewin argued that successful change inRead MoreWomens Role Models And Become Leaders1519 Words   |  7 PagesThere are legion women who serve as role models and become leaders. Women are survivors with unique inner strength who pose to achieve it all without complaining. Likewise, the women are mounting the leadership ladder in the male-dominated industries related to Finance, Federal Departments and Technology. In the United States, women synthesize a majority of the population earning higher college degrees as compared to men, yet holding only 19.2% top executive positions in the corporate world accordingRead MoreLeadership Approaches Of Leadership And Leader Member Exchange1525 Words   |  7 PagesExploring Leadership Approaches Publilius Syrus wrote, â€Å"Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm,† meaning any person can be a leader when operations are working correctly (Pozin, 2014). What type of leader stands out when complex problems arise? Two leadership approaches, collective and leader-member exchange, have opposing principles guiding the success of the methods. One approach foregoes a designated leader and enables team members to reach an objective collectively, whereas the differingRead MoreBad Leadership And The Us Border Patrol1861 Words   |  8 PagesABSTRACT Why does bad leadership exist? Bad leadership indeed exists in the US Border Patrol is a question that I have wondered about for many years. What has been done to fix the problem and if any programs have been created to develop good and efficient leaders for the future. This paper sought a definition of bad leadership, and compiled a taxonomy of eighteen types of poor leaders. This research serves as a review of poor leadership in the US Border Patrol. Why does it exists, why it is toleratedRead MoreMy Mission Of A Leader2643 Words   |  11 Pagesproviding the highest quality of security and leadership inside and outside of the institution. I will provide the highest quality of customer service to all internal and external customers. My vision is to help my superiors and subordinates to become trained and educated by sharing the experience and knowledge that I have gained throughout my career. As a supervisor, I will continue to seek training, experience and education in order to accomplish this vision. Leadership Theory I find that becauseRead MoreDeveloping Countries Supporting Afghanistan As A Developing Country1442 Words   |  6 Pagesassistance; Central and South Asia was endowed with more than double that, at fifteen billion dollars. Considering Afghanistan, than it has received a bulk of approximately thirteen billion in aid from which $9.95 billion was spent on military and security assistance to train and arm Afghan police forces and military. In 1960, World Bank realized the needs of Afghanistan; it developed the Aid-to-Afghanistan Consortium where all the principle providers of money had a meeting to discuss about the assistanceRead MoreAfghanistan Is A Developing Country1468 Words   |  6 Pagesassistance; Central and South Asia was endowed with more than double that, at fifteen billion dollars. Considering Afghanistan, than it has received a bulk of approximately thirteen billion in aid from which $9.95 billion was spent on military and security assistance to train and arm Afghan police forces and military. In 1960, World Bank realized the needs of Afghanistan; it developed the Aid-to-Afghanistan Consortium where all the principle providers of money had a meeting to discuss about the assistance

HR Planning & Recruitment in Labour Market-Samples for Students

Question: Identify and discuss HR planning and recruitment in a particular sector of the labour market. Answer: Introduction The workforce planning is considered as an important job of the human resource professionals and it determines the success of an organization. The recruitment process determines the quality of manpower in an organization, which implies the level of organizational success (De Bruecker et al., 2015). The HR planning can be considered as a fully integrated operational process which is done to avoid any shortage of skilled manpower.. This would enable the concerned HR to make appropriate planning decisions which would benefit the organization in the long run (Squires et al., 2017). The selected organization for this study is Wesfarmer Supermarket and the concerned industry is the retail industry. The thesis statement of this research is to determine the planning as well as recruiting functions of the human resources for the retail industry of Australia. The main objective of the report is to explore the different factors behind HR planning and the formulation of HR strategies. The different challenges in the process of HR planning and the formulation of recruitment strategies would be determined in this report. HR planning in Australia (Concerning retail sector) The retail industry has witnessed a major growth in the past few years. There has been a phenomenal increase of the e-commerce, which has posed stiff competition for the brick and mortar stores (Gharibi Yamchi et al., 2016). There has been a steep increase in the job role of merchandisers in the retail sector, which have increased by over 17% in the last few years (Seek.com.au, 2017). They look at the strategic aspect of the business and observe the movement of the stocks closely in the store (De Bruecker et al., 2015). There has been a sharp increase in the planning job roles in the retail industry (Seek.com.au, 2017). They act as a liaison between purchasing department and the finance department. There has been more focus on the cultural fit of the employees in the retail sector. The employers are looking for persons who can fit the organizational culture of the company. The human resources team in the retail industry is opting for recruiting candidates with the right behavioral fit and cultural fit, which would help them to adapt quickly to the organizational culture (Evans, 2015). The candidates working in the retail industry are giving more importance to their career progression and they are opting to work for the employers who would be able to give them the maximum possible growth (De Bruecker et al., 2015). HR strategies pertaining to retail industry An increasing number of Wesfarmer has understood the requirements for good HR policies for the organizational growth (Howard, Turban Hurley, 2016). This is because of the fact that HR managers are responsible for acquisition, development, maintenance, rewards and motivation of the team members (Howard, Turban Hurley, 2016). The HR planners should take into account the technology, organizational structure, organizational culture and the different employee characteristics (Rathi Lee, 2015). They should also take into account the core employees having high degree of knowledge, skills and values that would be beneficial for the organization. The Wesfarmer has started realizing the importance of the legislative aspects of HR, which would help them to formulate appropriate policies (Howard, Turban Hurley, 2016). There has been major shift of Australia to a decentralize manner of determining wages for the employees, which is done at Federal and State levels (McGrath-Champ et al., 2015). The organizational design is important that makes the managers formulate the formal organizational structure that would be used in the organization. This would also ensure that there is adequate coordination between the different work activities so that the organizational goals are fulfilled. The competitive approach in the global market is important for determining the way the organization would manage its human resource (Howard, Turban Hurley, 2016). A successful HR planning would ensure that the organization has the right talent at the right place at the right point of time, which would help the organization to fulfill its objectives (Dries, 2013). Challenges in HR planning for retail industry The HR planning is a dynamic job function in which there are many loopholes being faced by the planners. The main challenges in the HR planning of the retail industry of Australia are elaborated below- Low motivation level of employees- The high compensation of the employees of Wesfarmer is unable to suffice the motivation level of the employees (Angrave et al., 2016). This is due to the poor work-life balance of the employees. The retail sector does not have fixed working hours and the employees are expected to work for relatively long time (McGrath-Champ et al., 2015). High attrition rate- The HR pioneers are concerned with the high attrition rate of the retail industry. There is a tendency of the employees to quit their current organization for getting better job prospects in other organizations (Latukha, 2015). This can also hamper customer loyalty if they find new retail executives every time they visit their stores. Prevailing misconceptions- The HR personnel, when taking interviews, have realized the fact that there are growing prejudices regarding working in Wesfarmer (Soldan Nankervis, 2014). There are many people who believe that there is long working hours in those sectors with minimal growth opportunities. The jobs in this sector are often perceived as low paying ones and they are not seen as reputable jobs (McGrath-Champ et al., 2015). Solution for the given challenges For the problem of poor work life balance of the employees, the company can provide flexible working hours to its employees whereby the employees need to work in shifts. Working in desirable shifts will not only help the employees in maintaining their work life balance, it will also help the company to save its costs. The employees, when satisfied will tend to work better and reflect higher levels of motivation. In such a case, the productivity at the given workplace will also increase. The higher attrition rate of the Wesfarmer can be solved by providing additional benefits to the employees. The employees need to feel as if they are a part of the organization and thereby improve their efficiency (Markham, 2013). If the employees can be provided with career enhancement opportunities such as certificate courses in retail management or any other relevant courses then the employees might feel that their performance and participation is being appreciated and they may feel more loyal towards the firm. This loyalty shall help the firm in improving the efficiency level and promote good business operations. The growing misconception regarding Wesfarmer that the company offers long working hours and low pay can be improved by promoting their internal policy. The supermarket can provide various advertisements in the newspapers and other job related websites thereby promoting their workplace culture which can thereby highlight their new shift policy which was stated earlier. The double shift will help the workers to manage their life balance and also help the firm as happy workers will perform better. Hence, if the suggested solutions are being applied then the company will be able to attract better personnel for its retail sector. Recruitment This is considered as one of the first step of the human resources, which is considered with the attracting, short listing and the selection of suitable candidates (McGrath-Champ et al., 2015). Wesfarmer should focus on retaining the employees as the average employee turnover rate is quite high in the industry (Nikolaou, 2014). Recruitment tactics for retail industry The retail industry in Australia depends significantly on the front end sales of their products and retains the existing employees in the workplace (Markham, 2013).The recruiters in the retail industry are opting for the volume benefits that are being opted in the open interview days. They also depend on the referrals for recruiting high number of candidates in limited time period. The retail industry is often seen to offer incentives to the current employees so that they can refer their friends and acquaintances (Cravens et al., 2015). Wesfarmer in Australia believes in the fact that the local talents would be helpful in achieving the organizational mission. They would also be able to bring more appropriate skills and knowledge to the organization, as they would be able to know the countrys labor market requirement. Challenges in recruitment for Wesfarmer: Wesfarmer in Australia faces a number of challenges when the HR personnel are striving to perform recruitment job functions. They are enumerated below- Lack of educated manpower- There is lack of specialized courses on Wesfarmer, which make it difficult for the recruiters. The candidates lack specialized skills that are needed to work in this sector (Oh, Weitz Lim, 2016). Low status- Wesfarmer has been a career choice for the young people who need finances to support their education or support their family members (McGrath-Champ et al., 2015). Equal employment- There is issues with the effective implementation of the equal employment opportunities and there are instances when there is discrimination done during the time of recruitment (Oh, Weitz Lim, 2016). Solution for the Recruitment Problems for Wesfarmer The lack of educated man power can be reduced by partnering with an employee agency or conducting campus recruitments. Campus recruitments may be conducted for higher level jobs whereas, for the middle to lower level jobs, the company can tie up with various employment agencies that will take a fee but make sure that the employed candidates have a certain educational level pertaining to the industry. Like mentioned earlier, jobs at Wesfarmer are viewed as a choice for those candidates who lack finances and are forced to work in this scenario (Oh, Weitz Lim, 2016). Jobs in retail stores are often taken as low paying jobs and therefore, the company should promote itself and build up a good work culture that promotes good employment so that people are encouraged to work as a career option too not only as a choice. The retail giant Wesfarmer, should make sure that there exists no kind of discrimination in the work place so that equal employment opportunities should be provided. There are various laws which promote non-discrimination; the company should abide by these laws. This shall improve the image of the company in the eyes of the candidates. Conclusion The human resource is one of the most important vital departments of the organization in which there is a need to align to formulate policies as per the business needs of the firm. The HR is also responsible for proper planning as the entire operational functioning depends on the human resources or manpower of the firm. This report discussed some of the important HR strategies of the firm and the associated challenges. It also threw light on the different recruitment strategies and the various challenges that are being faced by the recruiters. References Angrave, D., Charlwood, A., Kirkpatrick, I., Lawrence, M., Stuart, M. (2016). HR and analytics: why HR is set to fail the big data challenge.Human Resource Management Journal,26(1), 1-11. Cravens, K. S., Oliver, E. G., Oishi, S., Stewart, J. S. (2015). Workplace culture mediates performance appraisal effectiveness and employee outcomes: A study in a retail setting.Journal of Management Accounting Research,27(2), 1-34. De Bruecker, P., Van den Bergh, J., Belin, J., Demeulemeester, E. (2015). Workforce planning incorporating skills: State of the art.European Journal of Operational Research,243(1), 1-16. Dries, N. (2013). The psychology of talent management: A review and research agenda.Human Resource Management Review,23(4), 272-285. Gharibi Yamchi, H., Azar, A., Alvani, M., Javadin, S., Javadin, R. S. (2016). Comparison of the deterministic and fuzzy approaches in HR planning.Journal of Industrial Strategic Management,1(1), 39-50. Howard, L. W., Turban, D. B., Hurley, S. K. (2016). Cooperating teams and competing reward strategies: Incentives for team performance and firm productivity.Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management,3(3). Latukha, M. (2015). Talent management in Russian companies: domestic challenges and international experience.The International Journal of Human Resource Management,26(8), 1051-1075. Markham, S. K. (2013). The Impact of Front?End Innovation Activities on Product Performance.Journal of Product Innovation Management,30(S1), 77-92. McGrath-Champ, S., Fitzgerald, S., Parding, K., Rainnie, A. (2015). Public Sector school education and the effects of marketisation: Australian/Swedish comparisons. In17th Triennial World Congress of the International Labour and Employment Relations Association. Nikolaou, I. (2014). Social networking web sites in job search and employee recruitment.International Journal of Selection and Assessment,22(2), 179-189. Oh, H., Weitz, B., Lim, J. (2016). Retail career attractiveness to college students: Connecting individual characteristics to the trade-off of job attributes.Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services,31, 345-354. Rathi, N., Lee, K. (2015). Retaining talent by enhancing organizational prestige: An HRM strategy for employees working in the retail sector.Personnel Review,44(4), 454-469. Seek.com.au, 2017. SEEK - Australia's no. 1 jobs, employment, career and recruitment site. (2017).SEEK. Retrieved 15 December 2017, from https://www.seek.com.au Soldan, Z., Nankervis, A. (2014). Employee perceptions of the effectiveness of diversity management in the Australian public service: Rhetoric and reality.Public Personnel Management,43(4), 543-564. Squires, A., Jylh, V., Jun, J., Ensio, A., Kinnunen, J. (2017). A scoping review of nursing workforce planning and forecasting research.Journal of nursing management,25(8), 587-596.

Organizational Behavior free essay sample

Company’s performance plummet (Assignment) Summary XYZ Company’s profits are solely based on its sales volumes. In the recent past the sales reports recorded a slump in the figures. Market conditions are favorable for the products and it has been identified the reason for sales drop is the low motivation and morale of the employees. Superiors are facing difficulty to manage day today work as employees have developed a habit to go on unplanned unapproved leave. Some of them notify their superiors or a colleague on the day of the leave and some never. Sabotage acts have created mistrust. Integrity in the organization has become a thing in the past. The latest developments were the clashes between superiors and subordinates reported by the human resources to the CEO showcasing the infested relationships within the organization. This report evaluates the on going crisis of the XYZ Company, the reasons for such behavior from organizations and individual point of view based on the theories in organizational behavior. We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Behavior or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Recommendations to overcome this challenging situation will be suggested using the results proven concepts and theories in the field. Literature Review MARS Model McShane, S. L. , Glinow, M. A. V. , Sharma, R. R. (2008) uses the MARS model to explain the drivers of individual behavior and results. The authors have used this to highlight the factors influence the individual’s behavior which results in the performance. The four factors are Motivation, Ability, Role Perception and Situational Factors. The model explains the combined effect of these factors for the performance of an individual. Big Five Personality Traits Costa McCrae, (1992) explained the five traits of personality which have been scientifically discovered to define human personality. This model explains the positive relationship of the five characteristics and performance, motivation and job satisfaction. Schwartz’s  Values  Model Shalom Schwartz (1992, 1994) used his Schwartz Value Inventory (SVI) with a wide survey of over 60,000 people to identify common values that acted as guiding principles for ones life. He identified ten value types that gather multiple values into a single category. The values namely are Power, Achievement, Hedonism, Stimulation, Self-direction, Universalism, Benevolence, Tradition, Conformity, Security, Super-grouping. They can also be collated into larger super-groups namely Openness to change ( Stimulation, self-direction and some hedonism) , Self-enhancement(Achievement, power and some hedonism) ,Conservation (Security, tradition and conformity) and Self-transcendence( Universalism and benevolence) Employee Engagement McShane, S. L. , Glinow, M. A. V. , Sharma, R. R. (2008) defines employee engagement as â€Å"Employees’ emotional and cognitive (rational) motivation, their ability to perform their jobs, their possessing a clear understanding of the organization’s vision and their specific roles in that vision and a belief that they have been given the resources to get their jobs done†. What is happening? If XYZ company challenges were to analyze many years ago, according to Theory X assumptions, by the scholar Douglas McGregor, a pay revise, ensure security of the job or a favorable working conditions (Luthens, Fred, 2008) would have been recommended to boost up the morale and increase the productivity of employees. Many research has identified people are extremely complex, and theoretical understanding empirical research is needed to, implement solutions in order to manage people effectively. As Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group, says â€Å"Engaged employees create loyal customers who in turn create bigger profits†. From the description given on the characteristics of the employees at XYZ, it is obvious employee engagement does not exist in the slightest way resulting sales drops caused by poor performance. Employee engagement is described in the book Organizational Behavior by McShane, S. L. , Glinow, M. A. V. , Sharma, R. R. (2008) that the concept refers to, â€Å"Employees’ emotional and cognitive (rational) motivation, their ability to perform their jobs, their possessing a clear understanding of the organization’s vision and their specific roles in that vision and a belief that they have been given the resources to get their jobs done†. As stated in the literature review reasons or drivers for different individual behaviors have been in the focus of organizational behavior experts. Experts have identified the main factors influencing the individual behavior as Motivation, Ability, Role Perception and Situational Factors defined in the MARS model. The model says the four factors have a combined effect on individual’s good or poor performance. These four factors are influenced by individuals’ variables such as values, personality, perception, emotions and attitudes and stress. The most stable important variables in the model are the personality and values (McShane, S. L. , Glinow, M. A. V. , Sharma, R. R. (2008)). Then the importance comes as perception, emotions attitude and stress respectively. The main challenge XYZ company is facing at present is the low morale and low motivation of the employees which has been affected the individual performance and thereby the company’s performance resulting sales drops. Motivation can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. The intrinsic motivation is an incentive to do something that arises from factors within the individual, such as a need to feel useful or to seek  self-actualization. These factors can vary from individual to individual. Then the extrinsic motivation is an incentive to do something that arises from factors outside the individual, such as rewards or punishments. The promise of a bonus if one meets agreed performance targets is an obvious example of such motivation. In this case, with the given context, the employees’ motivation has become low. Therefore it can be assumed that XYZ Company’s employees’ intrinsic or extrinsic drive or both have diminished at present. First factor adversely influencing the individual behavior and results of XYZ company in MARS model is Motivation. According to the context of the XYZ Company it is assumed that its cadre is skilled and competent to do each of their roles. This can be made under the assumption of XYZ’s sales figures had been superior in the past. As a result, the factor ‘ability’ in the MARS model is present in XYZ Company. Further employees’ morale or the dictionary definition, self-confidence or self-esteem or spirit(s) or team spirit or enthusiasm is low. In management subject point of view employee morale is how employees actually feel about themselves as workers, their work, their managers, their work environment, and their overall work life. It incorporates all the mental and emotional feelings, beliefs, and attitudes that individuals and groups hold regarding their job. It could be seen that employees’ perception on what they how they do and to whom they do is distorted and unfavorable. This can be seen in MARS model point of view that another factor namely the individual’s role perception is weak or in danger in XYZ Company. XYZ employees at different levels experience difficulties to carry out their jobs. Assume the company still posses an engaged supervisor, and he / she does not get the support from the subordinates to perform his/she job. On the other hand assume an engaged sales officer does his job and he is unable to complete is job if his / her supervisor is absent. Therefore the situational factors are not in favor of the XYZ Company individuals. In summary, XYZ Company’s employee behavior displays that there are issues in areas of motivation, role perception and situational factors. MARS model says, the four factors (Motivation, ability, role perception, Situational factors) have a combined effect on individual performance. (McShane, S. L. , Glinow, M. A. V. , Sharma, R. R. (2008)) Further it says if any factor weakens there will be an impact to employee performance in a negative manner. Figure 1 depicts what has happened to XYZ Company in the purview of the MARS model. Values Personality Perceptions Emotions Attitudes Stress Individual Characteristics Motivation Ability Role Perception Situational Factors Individual Behavior Results Decreased Performance Figure 1. MARS model of individual behavior and results for XYZ Company Reasons for weakened motivation, role perception, situational factors It is of great importance to evaluate the reasons for issues in the areas of motivation, role perception and situational factors. MARS model indicates the individual characteristics which influence the four factors as values, personality, perception, emotions, attitudes and stress. Out of these factors the two deeply held characteristics of people that influence their attitudes, motivation and behavior and therefore it is vital to study XYZ companies values and perceptions in detail as a measurement to understand why these things happen at the organization. Personality A person’s personality is like all other people’s, like some other people’s, and like no other people’s. ’ This statement was made by kluckhohn and Murray and it explains how complex and diverse a personality is. The experts say heredity, the brain, environment, maturation and learning contribute to the formation of human personality. These complex characteristics are simplified in Th e ‘Big Five’ personality traits. Research shows a positive relationship between the ‘Big Five’ and performance motivation and job satisfaction. Figure 2 analyzes the XYZ employee personalities as specified in ‘Big Five’ core personality traits. Core Trait| Characteristics of High Scorers| XYZ individuals Score| Conscientiousness| Dependable, Hardworking, organized, self-disciplined, persistent, responsible| LowNeeds attention| Emotional Stability| Calm, Secure, Happy, unworried| LowNeed attention| Agreeableness| Cooperative, warm, caring, good-nurtured, courteous, trusting| LowNeeds attention| Extraversion| Sociable, outgoing, talkative, assertive, gregarious| OK| Openness to Experience| Curious, intellectual, creative, cultured, artistically sensitive, flexible, imaginative| OK| Figure 2. The ‘Big Five’ personality traits and XYZ Company’s standing Experts have proved that the most important trait of the five, which has a strong positive relation to performance, is conscientiousness. The background of XYZ Company shows the negative set of characteristics from individuals for the most vital trait, the conscientiousness for high performance. Values â€Å"Employ the whole person, the mind and the soul† (McShane, S. L. , Glinow, M. A. V. , Sharma, R. R. (2008)) Tom Chapell, the co-founder of Tom’s of Maine, speaks about importance of values of an individual to an organization. Values are the stable evaluative beliefs that guide our preferences for outcomes or courses of action in a variety of situations. XYZ’s individual behavior actions at different circumstances are evidence for adverse set of personal values among individuals. Although it is necessary to conduct a survey among employees to come in to a accurate picture of the individual value distribution for the different values identified by S. H. Schwartz, with the individual actions at XYZ company it can be identified the majority of the individual values fall in to the colored area (Blue Lines) of the Schwartz’s  Values  Model depicted in Figure 3. Self-transcendence Openness to Change Conservation Self-enhancement Figure 3. Schwartz’s  Values  Model and XYZ Company’s behavioral study Ethics Ethics is defined by the dictionary as a branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct with respect to the rightness or wrongness of certain actions. As mentioned earlier humans are complex and ethics is based on their values, perception and attitudes making the problem of ethics too complex. People perceive things in different ways, but most people agree that ethics involves a lot of common sense. Peoples ethical standards are often based on values instilled in them in their youth, and in their environmental background. As the definition says ethics deals with individual values, XYZ Company’s ethics can be assessed based on the Schwartz’s  Values  Model distribution (Figure 3. ). Among XYZ individuals it is often observed disturbing actions for the daily activities of the company. So me of the ethically deficient behaviors are unplanned leave without notifying, conflicts, loss of integrity and acts of sabotage. Therefore, since these actions are hindering the company performance this behavior can be seen as unethical self conduct, among groups of people in the organization. As Figure 4. depicts when observed the XYZ’s individuals, considering the three principles of ethics it can be derived that the interest is towards ‘My interests’ and ‘Our interest’, but not ‘Everybody’s interest’, in other words not Company interest. Utilitarianism Individual Rights Distributive Justice (Group) Figure 4. Ethical Principles standing at XYZ Company Revisit To the Outcome of Applied Theory To XYZ Company In Summary, from the MARS model it, it says in the given context of XYZ Company, it has issues in Motivation, Role Perception and Situational Factors. It was considered that the most important factors to affecting performance are Values and Personality. When analyzed the personality in detail, the Big Five personality trait showed that the employees has low score characteristics for the core traits namely Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability and Agreeableness. In the area of values XYZ company employee displayed strength in openness to change qualities defined as Stimulation, Self-Direction and Hedonism. In the same way they had the strength in self-enhancement defined as Achievement and Power. The ethical principles analysis showed that the employees are only interested in themselves and the group they are in but not the company. Recommendations Therefore XYZ company has a talented set of employees who has a high ego and talent who’s values are not aligned with the company values. Value motivated workforce is more long lasting than a incentive motivated workforce. They are proven to be more engaged. Starting from the company values ethics should be considered as a vital component for success. The ethical values of the company should be shared with the employees and those should be implanted in them. As David M. Taylor is a professional engineer, says companies having shared values that are consistently modeled within the organization results in: Employees focused on what is important to the organization Less stress on individuals ,Less tension between individuals and departments Enthusiasm in the workplace , Pride in work , Direction in the workplace Less bureaucracy , Positive attitudes , Positive momentum Examples of companies that did not have proper alignment around a value system and paid the price in the marketplace; WorldCom , Enron , Bre-X Examples of companies that have built themselves around their values; Disney , Home Depot , Walmart , Starbucks Some suggested morale-boosters for the high talented employees suggested by Morale  Encyclopedia of Management Practicing of fairness and consistency ,Bestowing praise in public while leveling criticism in private , Encouraging humor and fun in the workplace, Communication ,Listening and remaining receptive to new ideas , Getting to know something about employees personal lives and treating them as individuals, Creating opportunities for employees to learn and grow, Sharing decision making and offering employees choices, Promoting from within, and most importantly Leading by example. Organizational Behavior free essay sample Managers and employees alike should have a set standard of ethics to abide by. While it is impossible to not have any cases of unethical behavior, all organizations should strive to have the least amount of unethical cases as possible. 5. Which of the seven moral principles in Table 1–4 appear to be in force at Whole Foods? Explain. There are a few moral principles that appear to be in force at Whole Foods. Humaneness is defined as having actions that â€Å"ought to accomplish good† (Kreitner Kinicki, 2013, p. 24).Whole Foods appears to be committed to doing â€Å"good† by changing and improving the world. They sell products that are natural and healthy for all. They believe that they are a heroic company because of this. This also ties into the seventh principle of â€Å"the common good†. The company truly does look out for the common good of all. The company encourages consumers to buy their healthy, organic products as opposed to consuming â€Å"junk† food that over time deteriorates the human body. We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Behavior or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Finally, Whole Foods appears to be loyal to consumers, employees, and stakeholders.They constantly keep the public trust and abide by all laws. They sell quality products and are proud of their work. While Whole Foods appears to be successful in three of the seven moral principles, they need to strive to achieve all seven. Each moral principle is important and all companies need to strive to be consistent in each of the seven principles. 6. What appeals to you (or does not appeal to you) about working at Whole Foods? Explain. I believe that Whole Foods is a good company to work for.I believe that they do hire managers that will motivate, train, and help their employees achieve success. They appear to be committed to serving the public and try to help the environment. However, I believe that Whole Foods has room to grow. They need to create programs to improve their employees and help them gain even more knowledge. Employees want to feel like they can grow within a company and I am not sure if they are at that point. With the right leadership, direction, and ideas, Whole Foods can become even more successful then they already are. Organizational Behavior free essay sample Is OB Mod a form of manipulation and if it is. Is it unethical for managers to manipulate the behavior of employees? Need to support the argument. Behavioral Modification is used as a technique in both schools and therapy to modify behavior of students and clients, respectively. Likewise, it is used in organizations and referred to Organizational Behavior Modification (OB-Mod), and is used to meet the productivity challenges associated with employee’s behavior. With its roots in modern behaviorist psychology, OB- Mod is a human resources management technique aimed at improving job-related behaviors that are observable and measurable, such as absenteeism or tardiness, or toward behavior products, such as quality or quantity of work. OB Mod calls for intervention to encourage desirable performance behavior and discourage undesirable behavior. The major intervention strategy involves: 1. Feedback on the critical performance-related behavior and 2. Positive reinforcement for progress and attainment Although some argue that OB-Mod it is a form of managerial manipulation and unethical, behavior modification aimed at increasing productivity is aimed at meeting the organizational goals and mission. We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Behavior or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Therefore, it could be argues that it is not unethical, but just good business practice. For example, this approach to motivation and dealing with problem behaviors is based on the application of learning theory to people in the workplace. This hardly seems unethical since it is used in schools and therapy regularly to change problem behaviors. However, it does limited the freedom of choice for the employees, so in this sense, it can be considered some form of managerial modification. Whether a person accepts reinforcement theory or not, will determine if you consider it a form of manipulation. Reinforcement theory holds that a desirable behavior can be increased by linking that behavior with positive outcomes, while undesirable behaviors can be decreased by linking them with negative consequences or by eliminating reinforces. Although it is sometimes eferred to as manipulation (and therefore unethical), the advantage of this approach is that it focuses on specific behaviors in the workplace and is thus performance based. It also, at least to some degree, avoids sensitive personal counseling issues in a persons personal life, by focusing on what needs to be done to improve performance. Finally, it provides a clear structure and consequences to employees that encourage them to change in an observable way in a structured time frame (http://faculty. ss. edu/dswenson/web/OB/obmod. html). There has been some reported effectiveness of OB-Mod. For example, B. F. Goodrich has used OB-Mod to increase productivity by more than 300%, and Weyerhauser increased productivity in three different groups by 8%. However, a program initiated by Standard Oil of Ohio was discontinued due to failure to meet objectives, and A Michigan Bell program was considered only modestly successful. However, it is not always successful, because managers cannot find enough reinforcers at times. Perhaps there is a better way to influence and motivate employee behavior in a more open manner. Selling the vision, inclusion, open communication to name a few, have also shown to be highly effective in motivating employees. Organizational Behavior free essay sample The job had met his personal goals and expectations perfectly, and Tony believed he had grown greatly as a person. His work was appreciated and recognized; he had received three promotions and many more pay increases. Tony had also liked the company itself. The firm was decentralized, allowing its managers considerable autonomy and freedom. The corporate Culture was easygoing. Communication was open. The people had been another plus. Tony and three other managers went to lunch often and played golf every Saturday. Their boss had been very supportive, giving them the help they needed but also staying out of the way and letting them work. After the final closing was announced, he spent only a few weeks looking around before he found a comparable position at Reece Enterprises. Well, comparable probably was the wrong word. Indeed, Reece and O’Grady were about as different as you could get. Top managers at Reece apparently didn’t worry too much about who did a good job and who didn’t. We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Behavior or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page They seemed to promote and reward people based on how long they had been there. Reece was a bigger organization than O’Grady and was structured much more bureaucratically. No one was allowed to make any sort of decision without getting three signatures from higher up. Those signatures, though, were hard to get. All the top managers usually were too busy to see anyone, and interoffice memos apparently had very low priority. Tony also had had some problems fitting in. His peers treated him with polite indifference. He sensed that a couple of them resented that he, an outsider, had been brought right in at their level after they had had to work themselves up the ladder. Tony wondered if perhaps he had made a mistake in accepting the Reece offer without finding out more about what he was getting into. What advice can you give Tony? How would this advice be supported or tempered by behavioral concepts and processes? Is it possible to find an ideal place to worh? Explain. Organizational Behavior free essay sample Organizational Behavior Instructor: Rachana Misraraj December 10, 2012 Organizational Behavior Analysis Organizational Behavior is the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations. â€Å"Organizational behavior is a misnomer. It is not the study of how organizations behave, but rather the study of individual behavior in an organizational setting. This includes the study of how individuals behave alone, as well as how individuals behave in groups(Werthiem, 2004). † The purpose of organizational behavior is to gain a greater understanding of those factors that influence individual and group dynamics in an organizational setting so that individuals and the groups and organizations to which they belong may become more efficient and effective. The field also includes the analysis of organizational factors that may have an influence upon individual and group behavior. Much of organizational behavior research is ultimately aimed at providing human resource management professionals with the information and tools they need to select, train, and retain employees in a fashion that yields maximum benefit for the individual employee as well as for the organization. We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Behavior or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The purpose of the paper below is to analyze the organizational behavior of my current or former employer (current: Street, Water, and Sewer Department for my town), by describing how each of the components listed below influences the behavior of the organization in a negative or positive manner, and they include, the Type of culture (Pluralism, Dualism or Salad bowl? ); Modes of communication (Describe the dominant communication form used, e. g. written or verbal); Nature of authority (recognized social rank); Motivational techniques (Describe the motivational driving forces e. g. Intrinsic or extrinsic used to influence productivity and performance? ); Areas of EQ incorporated (Describe how the organization embraces the theory of emotional intelligence); and How are the components of a virtual organization embraced? (Explain how the organization embraces new paradigms such as teleworking and virtual offices? ). Grasping a complex and knowledgeable understanding on why, when, where and how, organizational behavior functions and operates, can provide great tools and skills to an individual or organization to better manage behavior and productivity within a company. I currently work for as a laborer for the Water/Sewer department for my county/town. As a member of the STREET department which is responsible for the maintenance and repair of City roads and right-of-ways; maintenance and repair of drainage located on City property; installation and maintenance of signs and roadway markings; and removal of snow and ice. The Employee’s operates, maintains and repairs various machinery, tools, and equipment. As for the water department, this position is responsible for maintenance and repair of Citys WATERLINE system. Installs any and all new additions to the existing distribution system as well as performs necessary maintenance and or repairs to any part of the water distribution system. Performs miscellaneous duties such as operating and repairing equipment, general clean up, concrete finishing, painting, etc. Uses various hand tools, power tools, heavy equipment and machinery. As a member of the WASTEWATER(Sewer)Department which is responsible for maintenance and repair of the Citys sewer line system. Employee performs necessary maintenance, repairs, and/or replacement of sewer system components. Employee uses various hand tools, power tools, heavy equipment, trucks, and machinery. Employee performs miscellaneous duties such as operating and repairing equipment, general clean up, concrete finishing, painting, etc. Good communications skills are required as this position frequently deals directly with the public. The primary hours of this position are Monday through Friday during the day; however, extended shifts and overtime on weekends, evenings, and holidays may be required. Therefore organizational behavior skills are a must. Type of culture (Pluralism, Dualism or Salad bowl? ) Culture can be defined as the cultivated behavior that is socially transmitted. It involves the accumulation of knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, experiences, religion, relations, concepts of the universe, values, meanings, roles, notions of time, relations, material possessions and objects acquired and a way of life of a group of people throughout the generations. When it comes to the type of culture on my job I would have to describe it as a pluralism type of culture. This refers to the type of culture whereby smaller groups of people within a large society tend to maintain their unique culture identities and their values, behaviors and identities are well accepted by the wider society or culture. The minor groups of people participate fully within the dominant society while still maintaining their cultural differences. It involves coexistent of different cultures in a location without the domineering of one particular culture. The human differences that exist are accepted by the majority and hence it eliminates discrimination in the form of racialism or sexism. It can also be refereed to as multiculturalism (Henry, 2011). † Within the three departments that I participate and work in, there are 5 different nationalities of workers who coincide within the organization, and they include African American, Mexican, Caucasian, Latino, and American Indian. Each and every one of these individuals, have their own way of living, eating, etc.. But when everyone clocks in in the morning, we are all one cohesive group, who knows that the main goal is to come to work, be safe, respect your fellow co-worker, get the job done in a professional manner, and most importantly be in the best interest of the tax payers and the town in general, while at the same time excepting who each individual is a person, where they come from, and their cultural differences. This influences the company in a positive manner because, it incorporates good behavior on the job, respect for the job, positive progress for the people participating at the job, and goal completion. Modes of communication (Describe the dominant communication form used, e. g. written or verbal) â€Å"Communication consists of transmitting, receiving, and processing information. In organizations, communications flow between individuals, between levels in the organizational hierarchy, between departments, and between the company and outside publics. Effective communication has often been linked to interpersonal and company success (Baak, 2012). † Communication is of high importance on any job, especially the one that I work for, due to the risks that are associated with the work and projects that we take on. Even though we may use written communication from time to time, describing what our daily goals and tasks are, verbal communication is the dominant mode of communication throughout the organization. Whether it be verbal or non verbal, both revolve around the importance of everyone, working in sync with one another and most importantly working safely around your fellow co-worker. One example is, when we are replacing larger water lines (12 inches in diameter) within a trench, which may be at a depth of 2ft to 14ft. Therefore, when a worker is in the trench digging around and locating the pipe, there must to be a competent person at the top of the trench looking for cracks or imperfections in the walls, where a potential cave in could happen, injuring or killing the person in the hole. So, verbal communication is regularly used when there is no machinery running, and you have to alarm the workers of a dangerous situation. And non-verbal communication is used, when a gas powered saw is in operation to cut a pipe, in which, the worker cannot hear you verbally, thus non verbal actions and communication are used to alarm the worker of potential danger and they are pulled out of the trench before anything catastrophic occurs. On that note, this influences the company on a postive level, because, both verbal and non-verbal communication is the dominant and vital mode of communication, that provides protection for a safe work environment. Nature of authority (recognized social rank) The nature of authority is also very important on my job because, each individual respects the fact that one should not go over the next persons head of authority, or having curiosity about a co-workers way of life without discussing it with them first. Because, there are individuals on the job who have been there 20 years, 10 years, 5 years, etc, therefore when you join a team or a group of people, you become part of that organizations social system, and you must adjust and relate to that world of work. â€Å"The variables in an organizational system operate in a working balance called social equilibrium. Individuals make a psychological contract that defines their personal relationship with the system. â€Å"When they contribute to the organizations success, we call their behavior functional. The broad environment that people live in is their social culture, and a major change in it can lead to cultural shock. People need to accept and appreciate the value that cultural differences can contribute to the success of an organization (www. angel fire. com). † â€Å"Other important cultural factors include the work ethic and corporate attitudes toward social responsibility. Role is the pattern of action expected of a person in activities involving others. Related ideas are role perceptions mentors, role conflict, and role ambiguity. Status is the social rank of a person in a group, and it leads to status systems and possibly status anxiety. Organizational cultures reflect the assumptions and values that guide a firm. They are intangible but powerful influences on employee behavior. Participants learn about their organizations culture through the process of socialization and influence it through individualization (www. angel fire. com). On that note, the nature of authority can be both positive and negative, because, from a negative standpoint it can be used for growth in power in domination. But from a positive standpoint, it can be sued for uplifting other coworkers, by improvising their skills, capabilities and more importantly, their motivational drive on the job. Motivational techniques (Describe the motivational driving forces e. g. Intrinsic or ex trinsic used to influence productivity and performance? ) Due to the constant and unpredictable adjustments that my organization goes through, behavior can change in a instant, with each and every individual on the job. Therefore, motivational techniques are a concurrent thing, on a day to day basis. â€Å"There is no doubt that motivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals. Motivation can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the actions required to achieve a goal, without relying on external rewards or pressures (Amin, 2011). † In my organization the motivational driving force is intrinsic, because pride is everything to a man more than anything, therefore everyone on the job feels a sense of obligation to achieve the goals presented to them to their best ability. Productivity and performance stays at an all time high and positive level, thus, whatever daily goal is presented to us, is handled with confidence and integrity. Our motivation consist of reminding ourselves that what we do, is what we enjoy to do, what we do is appreciated by the tax payers family and most importantly we enjoy knowing that our skills and capabilities are worth the time and effort that we put forth to learn and achieve the skills and tools to complete present and future organizational objectives. Areas of EQ incorporated (Describe how the organization embraces the theory of emotional intelligence) Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions. Some researchers suggest that emotional intelligence can be learned and strengthened, while others claim it is an inborn characteristic. And it consists of four branches that include perceiving emotions, reasoning with emotions, understanding emotions and managing emotions (Cherr y, 2012). † Based on the high demands of my job, my co-workers and myself included, may at times have high emotions about whether something on the job is not going right, and show some form of frustration without even knowing it sometimes. Therefore my our organization constantly issues EQ (emotional intelligence ), reminder courses, that helps the crews keep a stable mind set when working in dangerous areas, and if something goes wrong, we use the EQ tools to control and manage our emotions for the sake/safety of our well being the others that are around. EQ classes have been very positive for the organization over the past 5 years, and every since the integration there have been no altercations, accidents, or incidents on the job at all. A 100% success rate. How are the components of a virtual organization embraced? (Explain how the organization embraces new paradigms such as teleworking and virtual offices? ) â€Å"Traditional brick and mortar businesses may become a thing of the past. Today’s modern workplace has embraced the virtual environment. The ultimate goal of the virtual organization is to provide innovative, high-quality products or services instantaneously in response to customer demands (Hamilton, 2012). On that note, my organization has embraced the components of a virtual organization on a very positive and useful level. For example, in the Water/sewer department, we are responsible for the distribution of bills/and cut-off notices for the water use throughout the city. For decades, this task was done by hand; by hand I mean driving to each and every house in the city, knocking on the door, and handing the customer their water/sewer bill for that month. Ever since the company embraced the compo nents of a virtual organization, these tasks are now obsolete. Now we contact the customers, through email, text messaging, and voicemails. When the customer has a question about their bill, they are able to contact the office and have a videoconference with the workers in the water/sewer department, to discuss whatever problem they are having with their water/sewer bill, or their water/sewer in general. My organization has also embrace the concept of a virtual organization in the street department. When there is a down power line, streetlight, street sign, blocked up drain pipes, etc. my organization has integrated a beacon system that alerts us when any of these incidents have occurred and in what area. All we have to do is acknowledge the beacon alert, log on to our computers, locate the problem, and proceed to fix the issue at hand. Integrating the components of a virtual organization has been immensely helpful and positive to our over all daily tasks and duties. In conclusion, Organizational Behavior is the study and application of knowledg e about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations. The purpose of organizational behavior is to gain a greater understanding of those factors that influence individual and group dynamics in an organizational setting so that individuals and the groups and organizations to which they belong may become more efficient and effective. Culture can be defined as the cultivated behavior that is socially transmitted. It involves the accumulation of knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, experiences, religion, relations, concepts of the universe, values, meanings, roles, notions of time, relations, material possessions and objects acquired and a way of life of a group of people throughout the generations. When it comes to the type of culture on my job I would have to describe it as a pluralism type of culture. Communication consists of transmitting, receiving, and processing information. In organizations, communications flow between individuals, between levels in the organizational hierarchy, between departments, and between the company and outside publics. Effective communication has often been linked to interpersonal and company success. The nature of authority is also very important on my job because, each individual respects the fact hat one should not go over the next persons head of authority, or having curiosity about a co-workers way of life without discussing it with them first. Due to the constant and unpredictable adjustments that my organization goes through, behavior can change in a instant, with each and every individual on the job. Therefore, motivational techniques are a concurrent thing, on a day to day basis. Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perce ive, control and evaluate emotions. Some researchers suggest that emotional intelligence can be learned and strengthened, while others claim it is an inborn characteristic. And it consists of four branches that include perceiving emotions, reasoning with emotions, understanding emotions and managing emotions. Traditional brick and mortar businesses may become a thing of the past. Today’s modern workplace has embraced the virtual environment. The ultimate goal of the virtual organization is to provide innovative, high-quality products or services instantaneously in response to customer demands. All in all the purpose of the paper above, was to analyze the organizational behavior of my current or former employer (current: Street, Water, and Sewer Department for my town), by describing how each of the components listed below influences the behavior of the organization in a negative or positive manner, and they include, the Type of culture (Pluralism, Dualism or Salad bowl? ); Modes of communication (Describe the dominant communication form used, e. g. written or verbal); Nature of authority (recognized social rank); Motivational techniques (Describe the motivational driving forces e. . Intrinsic or extrinsic used to influence productivity and performance? ); Areas of EQ incorporated (Describe how the organization embraces the theory of emotional intelligence); and How are the components of a virtual organization embraced? (Explain how the organization embraces new paradigms such as teleworking and virtual offices? ). Grasping a complex and knowledgeable understanding on why, when, where and how, organizational behavior functions and operates, can provide great tools and skills to an individual or organization to better manage behavior and productivity within a company. References Amin,. (July 21, 2011). Motivate your team intrinsically or extrinsically? Retrieved on December 10, 2012 from http://blog. 7geese. com/2011/07/21/intrinsic-vs-extrinsic-motivation/ Baack, D. (2012). Organizational behavior. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc Cherry, K. (2012). What Is Emotional Intelligence? Definitions, History, and Measures of Emotional Intelligence. Retrieved on December 10, 2012 from http://psychology. about. com/od/personalitydevelopment/a/emotionalintell. htm Hamilton, D. Dr. (April 23, 2012). Today’s Organizations Embracing Virtual Business. Retrieved on December 10, 2012 from http://drdianehamilton. wordpress. com/2012/04/23/todays-organizations-embracing-virtual-business/ Henry,. (April 4, 2004). Culture Definitions and Types. Retrieved on December 10, 2012 from http://language. ezinemark. com/culture-definitions-and-types-17b25a011fd. html Wertheim, E. G. (February 22, 2004). Historical Background of Organizational Behavior. Retrieved on December 10, 2012 from http://ehcweb. ehc. edu/faculty/ljcumbo/downfiles/historyofOB. pdf http://www. angelfire. com/blues/cannonsessays/org_behavior/ORGANIZATIONAL_BEHAV

To What Extent did the reforms of the Constituent Assembly reshape France Essay Example

To What Extent did the reforms of the Constituent Assembly reshape France Essay Example To What Extent did the reforms of the Constituent Assembly reshape France Paper To What Extent did the reforms of the Constituent Assembly reshape France Paper Essay Topic: History After October 1789, most people in France believed that the revolution was over. But the Constituent Assembly still wanted more reforms, they thought that France very much needed this, because it was not really in a fit state, and people were still being unfairly treated by the government and finance systems. It made reforms in 5 areas, government, religion, laws, finances and economy. Everyone in the assembly agreed that they should enforce the principles of the Declaration of Rights, which were that everyone is equal, and no individual might exercise any authority not expressly emanating from the nation. They wanted to produce a system that was representative of the country, was the same all over the country, decentralised and humanitarian. The assembly also agreed that they wanted an end to the ancien regime, and a limited monarchy. They were all great believers of the enlightenment, and wanted to apply the philosophies to end conflict, cruelty, superstition and poverty. There were 2 key principles to the way in which they reformed the local government, one of which was the decentralisation. They wanted the power to pass from the central government in Paris to the local authorities, making it much more difficult for the King to recover the power that he lost because of the revolution. The other key principle is to elect the officials, and to ensure stability would be responsible to those who elected them. Both these were a huge shift away from the old Ancien Regime. The Constituent Assembly enforced their new ideas by the Decrees of December 1789 and January 1790. These meant that France was divided into 83 departments, which were subdivided into 547 districts and 43,360 municipalities. The municipalities were grouped into Cantons, which acted as areas for elections and justices of the peace. All of the divisions were run by elected councils, except the cantons. The voting and election system worked as follows: The active citizens who could vote for municipal officials and vote in national elections had to pay 3 days labour in taxes, anyone who didnt pay this, couldnt vote. People who paid equivalent of 10 days labour could elect members of district and department, elect members to National Assembly and could become officials. And people who paid equivalent of 50 days could become a deputy in the National Assembly. This did mean that realistically, only the rich or financially well off people could elect councils. There was definitely a revolution in who governed, because in the South, bourgeois landowners controlled the new councils, and in the Northern towns the bourgeois controlled new councils, and in the Northern countryside, laboreurs controlled them. This was a huge change from the rich upper classes controlling to the middle and lower classes beginning to control. The councils did do a lot of work for the country, they assessed and collected taxes, they controlled the National Guard, maintained law and order, administered the clerical oath, carried out public works, and controlled the requisition of grain. In towns the councils were very effective; there were a good supply of literate, talented men. But in villages there very few literate and talented men so there were poor deputies. Also in Catholic areas, officials disliked persecuting priests who had refused to take the oath of loyalty, and consequently resigned and areas were left without any effective local government. In 1789, the royal administration collapsed, and very few taxes were collected, meaning that the Assembly desperately needed money so they decided to continue with the old financial system of direct and indirect taxation until 1791 which was very unpopular. The people wanted the demands made in the cahiers to be met immediately. After outbreaks of violence in Picardy, the government gave way, and abolished the gabelle in March 1790 and within a year all indirect taxes were abolished aswell. Before the new system operated effectively, the Assembly voted that in November 1789 the land that belonged to the church would be sold to the people. This money would then pay the Clergy. The government issues bands which people bought and used to buy church land. It was hoped that the Clergy would support the new regime because they would be dependant on it for their salaries. Members of the bourgeoisie bought most of the land near towns, and the peasants bought the land that was away from the towns. By 1799 the peasants had bought 52% of the land, while the Bourgeoisie has bought 48%. The bourgeoisie often resold their land to the peasants, it is estimated that the number of peasant smallholders increased by a million between 1789 and 1810. The new financial system began in January 1791, indirect taxes had been abolished, and now there was a main tax on land, which replaced indirect taxes and taille and vingtieme. There was also a property tax, which was unpopular, as people saw it as the old capitation in a new form. The new financial system was much better than the old, it benefited the poor a lot because of the abolition of indirect taxes, and there would no longer be any privileges or exemptions. It was much fairer in respect of the fact that all property and income was to be taxed on the same basis. The economic reforms that were enforced included the lassiez-faire attitude to trade and industry, the assembly believed that trade and industry should be free from any government interference, and therefore introduced free trade in grain in August 1789 and removed price controls. There was a creation of a single system of weights and measures which was the decimal system, which the whole population of France had to use now. In June 1971 80,000 workers were threatening a strike, so the assembly passed the Le Chapelier Law, named after Le Chapelier (the deputy who proposed it). This law made trade unions and employers organisations forbidden. Bargaining, picketing and strikes were made illegal. The assembly really wanted to give the poor some relief, and concluded that nearly 2 million people could only live from begging. However, when it came to action, the Assembly took none because there was not enough money. The Constituent Assembly changed the legal system in the same uniformity that it changed the local government. There were to be the same law and law-courts throughout the country. In each canton there was a J. P whose main job was to make the different parties to agree, but now could judge very minor civil cases without appeal. The more serious civil cases were sent to a District court. They made a criminal court in each department and these would deal with criminal cases and the defendants would be found guilty or innocent by a jury. At the head of the whole system was a Court of Appeal, whos Judges were elected. All the judges were elected by active citizens, but only those who had been lawyers for five years could be elected. This ensured that all the judges were fair and well qualified. The overall legal system was improved aswell, torture and mutilation was abolished and the use of the death penalty was vastly reduced. A new more efficient method of execution was introduced, the guillotine. The Assemblys legal reforms made a huge difference to France. Before, the system of justice was absolutely terrible it was barbarous and corrupt. However, after the reforms, it was one of the most enlightened in Europe. The Constituent Assembly had various ideas about religion. They wanted to create a church that was totally free from abuses, free from papal control, democratic and linked to the new systems; especially local government. Under the ancien regime the Catholic Church in France had not been very closely linked with the state, the Assemble wanted to change this. In August 1789 the Assembly ended the privileges of the Church, abolished the tithe, annates and pluralism. Most parish clergy supported these measures. The Decree of December 1789 gave civil rights to Protestants, and in September 1791 these rights included Jews. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy in July 1790 was a big turning point; it adapted the organisation of the church in a way similar to the adaptations of the local government. The number of bishoprics would be reduced from 135 to 83, meaning there would be fewer Clergy. The clergy was divided into Seculars and Regulars. Seculars were under control of a bishop, and a parish priest had control of a distinct area the benefice, they had responsibility for the salvation of people. In regulars were the members of religious orders who were under direct control of their superior. This included enclosed contemplatives. The Clergy demanded that the reforms be submitted to a National Assembly of the French Church but the Constituent Assembly refused to agree to this. Because a Church assembly was not allowed to discuss the matter, the Clergy waited for the Pope to give his opinion, however he took too long to respond and in November 1790 the National Assembly declared that the Clergy must take an oath to the Constitution. This split the clergy. In France 55% of the clergy took the oath, but when the Pope finally condemned the Civil Constitution in March 1791, many retracted their oath. The Civil Constitution of the clergy had momentous results; it destroyed the revolutionary consensus which had existed since 1789. There were now two churches in Catholic Churches in France, one which accepted the revolution and the other that was approved by the Pope but regarded as against the revolution. About half of the people now rejected revolution because they were faced with a choice between revolution and religion. This was one result of the Civil Constitution, another was the Kings attempt to flee France in June 1791, leading to the downfall of the monarchy. The Constituent Assembly drew up the Constitution of 1791, which would replace an absolute monarchy. Real power was to be passed to an elected assembly. The King would have a suspended veto and there would be one elected assembly. In September the King reluctantly accepted the Constitution, but Marie Antoinette said that the Constitution was so monstrous that it cannot survive for long, and was determined to overthrow it. The reforms that the Constituent Assembly made reshaped France in a big way; the whole Government system was changed entirely, and so was the legal system, the financial system and religion. The reforms moved away from the ancien regime and the peasants and bourgeoisie benefited very much from the reforms. The middle classes now controlled new councils, and the poor became landowners. Indirect taxation was abolished, which helped everyone very much, and was definitely a big change in the way the country used to be run. The King lost more and more power from the Constitution of 1791. However, the religious reforms did make some people go against the revolution, and lost the Constituent Assembly some popularity, but it did definitely reshape France.

Movie review topic Extinguishing the ecstasy of anger Essay

Movie review topic Extinguishing the ecstasy of anger - Essay Example Despite of the hardships, they still push through the objectives and the vision of their organization. The focus of the paper would be on the reasoning rendered by the review about The Interrupters. The main argument is related to the quality of the review and the supporting details would be used to verify the strength of the argument presented. Later on a conclusion would be made to prove that the supporting details really strengthened the argument. Roger Eberts said that â€Å"The Interrupters" is the closest thing to a real-life superhero origins story that any of us might ever experience. This film is exactly that: a superhero origins documentary. It might be the most powerful movie I have ever seen.† He wanted to convince the audience that the documentary movie was the greatest film ever as it reflected the heroic acts that can be compared to heroic deeds that are seen only on fantasies. Eberts concluded that people in the movie â€Å"identifies a problem, and seeks to fix it, with, or without any fanfare. The characters in our story are nothing more or less than what they are: humans with delicate hearts, seeking a few rays of hope.† The Interrupters is a good piece of a film as its quality is great catching the scenes that proves the existence and real impacts of the works of the organization CeaseFire. Their group may have some vigilante factor but the strength of their motivation adds help to the peace mai ntenance in their place. The movie The Interrupters shows the story about real-life superheroes as the characters in the movie are real people and not actors (Ebert Paragraph 1). They are captured while doing the real thing. Just like superheroes they face adversities even if danger is present and they risk their lives to save people. Dozens of Chicago killings rise and children are the usual victims. They are ignored and majority of people are busy on other events such as football games (Ebert