Federal and State Forestry Assistance Programs

Federal and State Forestry Assistance Programs There are a variety of U.S. Federal forestry assistance programs available to assist people with their forestry and conservation needs. The following forestry assistance programs, some financial and some technical, are major programs available to the forest landowner in the United States. These programs are designed to help a landowner with the cost of tree planting. Most of these programs are cost-share programs that will pay a percentage of the establishment cost of the trees. You should first study the delivery flow for assistance which starts at the local level. You will have to inquire, sign up, and be approved locally in your specific conservation district. It takes some persistence and you must be prepared to work and cooperate with a bureaucratic process that some people would rather not put up with. Find the nearest National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) office for assistance. The Farm Bill authorizes billions of dollars in funding for conservation programs. Forestry is certainly a major part. These conservation programs were created to improve natural resources on Americas private lands. Forest owners have used millions of those dollars for the improvement of their forested properties. Listed are the major programs and sources of forestry assistance. However, you need to be aware that there are other sources for assistance on a state and local level. Your local NRCS office will know these and point you in the right direction. Environmental Quality Improvement Program (EQIP) The EQIP program provides technical assistance and cost-share to eligible landowners for forestry practices, such as site preparation and planting of hardwood and pine trees, fencing to keep livestock out of the forest, forest road stabilization, timber stand improvement (TSI), and invasive species control. Priority is given to projects with multiple management practices to be completed over a number of years. Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program (WHIP) The WHIP program provides technical assistance and cost-share to eligible landowners who install wildlife habitat improvement practices on their land. These practices may include tree and shrub planting, prescribed burning, invasive species control, the creation of forest openings, riparian buffer establishment and fencing livestock from the forest. Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) WRP is a voluntary program that provides technical assistance and financial incentives to restore, protect, and enhance wetlands in exchange for retiring marginal land from agriculture. Landowners that enter into WRP may be paid an easement payment in exchange for enrolling their land. Program emphasis is on restoring wet cropland to bottomland hardwoods. Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) The CRP reduces soil erosion, protects the nations ability to produce food and fiber, reduces sedimentation in streams and lakes, improves water quality, establishes wildlife habitat, and enhances forest and wetland resources. It encourages farmers to convert highly erodible cropland or another environmentally sensitive acreage to vegetative cover. Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) BCAP provides financial assistance to producers or entities that deliver eligible biomass material to designated biomass conversion facilities for use as heat, power, biobased products or biofuels. Initial assistance will be for the Collection, Harvest, Storage, and Transportation (CHST) costs associated with the delivery of eligible materials.

Hughes Surname Meaning and Origin

Hughes Surname Meaning and Origin 1) A patronymic surname meaning son of Hugh. The given name Hugh is a Germanic name meaning heart/mind, often after Saint Hugh. 2) Possibly a modern form of the ancient Irish name OHAY. Hughes is the 83rd most popular surname in the United States. Hughes is even more popular in England, coming in as the 18th most common surname. Surname Origin English Alternate Surname Spellings HUGH, HUGHE Genealogy Resources for the Surname Hughes 100 Most Common U.S. Surnames Their MeaningsSmith, Johnson, Williams, Jones, Brown... Are you one of the millions of Americans sporting one of these top 100 common last names from the 2000 census? HUGHES Family Genealogy ForumSearch this popular genealogy forum for the Hughes surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own Hughes query. FamilySearch - HUGHES GenealogyFind records, queries, and lineage-linked family trees posted for the Hughes surname and its variations. HUGHES Surname Family Mailing ListsRootsWeb hosts several free mailing lists for researchers of the Hughes surname. Cousin Connect - HUGHES Genealogy QueriesRead or post genealogy queries for the surname Hughes, and sign up for free notification when new Hughes queries are added. DistantCousin.com - HUGHES Genealogy Family HistoryFree databases and genealogy links for the last name Hughes. Source Cottle, Basil. Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967. Menk, Lars. A Dictionary of German Jewish Surnames. Avotaynu, 2005. Beider, Alexander. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Galicia. Avotaynu, 2004. Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick. Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003. Smith, Elsdon C. American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.

Health Care Fraud Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health Care Fraud - Essay Example From this paper it is clear that  the Patient Protection Affordable Act which was formulated in 2010 helps resolve the problem of increased healthcare cost by reducing fraud and abuse. The above act has been adopted by many organizations as the guiding principles in the fight against fraud. The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act implemented in 2009 helps direct government resources that help in law enforcement efforts of fraud prevention. Some the organizations geared toward the control of health care fraud include the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association which controls Insurance related fraud cases in healthcare. The Public-Private Healthcare Fraud Prevention Partnership among public and private sectors whose sole purpose is to detect and prevent fraudulent payments and claims.As the study highlights  the United States has achieved great success in the fight against health care fraud through the partnership between the Department of Health and Human Services and the Depar tment of Justice. The above two organizations have been in charge of the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program. This program has been instrumental in implementing fraud control prevention, detection and reporting systems.   In 2009, the DOJ and HSS formed the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team. The HEAT has also been instrumental in ensuring defendants are convicted, and millions of fraudulent billings are detected and prevented.

Economic Implications of the EU's Single Currency on German Economy Dissertation

Economic Implications of the EU's Single Currency on German Economy - Dissertation Example Methodology 3.1 Research approach and technique ----------------------------------------------------26 3.2 Sources and collection of data --------------------------------------------------------27 3.3 Data analysis ----------------------------------------------------------------------------28 3.4 Ethics in research------------------------------------------------------------------------28 3.5 Research limitations---------------------------------------------------------------------29 3.6 Credibility and verification ------------------------------------------------------------30 4. Results from macroeconomic data 4.1 German economy after the adoption of euro--------------------------------------32 4.2 Current effect on Germany----------------------------------------------------------32 4.3 Understanding the macro level effects on the economy-------------------------34 5. Discussion----------------------------------------------------------------------------------46 6. ... Germany is considered to be a very strong economy and its economic performance has been remarkable. The adoption of euro as the single currency has been an important event. The adoption of this policy was thought to bring about favorable changes to employment, growth and budget allocation but it was seen that since the adoption of the above stated policy the country had faced serious problems and that has been shown with the help of various macroeconomic indicators like unemployment, Gross Domestic Product, Inflation, and Gross Fixed Capital Formation (Hishow, 2007, p.3). CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Economic and monetary union was suggested by the European Commission in the year 1998. They had predicted that this would encourage more investment, help increase competition, rejuvenate the European economy and the single market, and benefit the population of Europe with respect to their work and travel requirements. Some of the greatest arguments in favor of the single currency move were th at, it would result in integration of the markets of Europe and the removal of uncertainties that result from an unpredicted exchange rate. It was also expected to increase the mobility of capital and induce transparent pricing. The European Commission carried out a research and came out with estimation that 0.33 percent of European GDP was lost in the process of conversion of currency or as transaction costs. A traveler in Europe could have spent nothing but still would have lost a significant amount of money by only changing currencies. The system was seen as one which would introduce lesser volatile interest rates, thereby supporting low inflation and higher growth. Optimists believed that the Euro would reach the same state as of the Dollar and share the spotlight. It would make

The Issue of Human Cloning Essay Example for Free

The Issue of Human Cloning Essay INTRODUCTION Human cloning has been a favorite subject in science fiction stories, but has in recent years, it has become front page news. Anytime that a new scientific debate is born, many details about the topic itself is muddled with many inaccuracies. The problem is: do people understand enough of the science to predict whether cloning will be acceptable or not ethically and/or legally? Does it make sense to bring new people in the world whose origin is drastically different than the majority of people? This short review will focus first on arguments for cloning human beings based on scientific arguments and second on arguments against human cloning from the book by Leon Kass â€Å"The Ethics of Human Cloning. † REPRODUCTIVE AND RESEARCH CLONING Cloning is done in adult animals by somatic cell nuclear transfer. In the case of sheep like Dolly, the nucleus of a cell from a sheep is placed inside the cell of another sheep that has been emptied from its nucleus. However, contrary to the popular belief, the cloned sheep will not be 100% genetically identical to the donor sheep. The enucleated cell still has some DNA inside in organelles like the mitochondria that will be different than the donor’s DNA. The main arguments for cloning deal with the potential medical as well as scientific benefits that would be conferred upon humanity if adult humans could be cloned. The first reason is that cloning humans would bring forth medical breakthroughs for curing diseases like cancer. The rationale is that cloning involved in the differentiation of a cell may be an advantage that could help in the comprehension of how a cell differentiates and divides. Cancerous cells are multiplying without restraints since the cellular mechanisms for regulating cell division and cell growth are non-functional. Usually, unrestrained division and growth in normal cells do not continue because the cell has safety mechanisms that will induce death or apoptosis to stop this uncontrollable process. Other ideas about the benefit of cloning are cloning organs that could replace defective ones like heart, kidneys, and liver. This type of cloning is called research cloning contrasting with reproductive cloning. Another argument deals with infertility and reproduction. Many people cannot have children. Reproductive cloning would not only give them a child, but an ideal child in terms of genomic inheritance, implying that a clone could have its genome altered based on the parent’s disease history. This would guarantee a healthy child or some kind of twin to the parent. In essence, identical twins are clones of each other since their genome is identical. Cloning also happens all the time in nature. So, why not in humans too whenever it is wanted? ARGUMENTS AGAINST CLONING Leon Kass in his book â€Å"The Ethics of Human Cloning† analyzes the reasons why human cloning should never be used in our society. Dr. Kass expresses a fundamental distrust of human cloning based on the fact that human intervention is involved in the process. In effect, he draws a parallel between artificial insemination and cloning since both are in vitro processes in the beginning, being transferred to a host in vivo at the end. The problem with â€Å"human hands† is that ‘good intentions pave the way to Hell’ as the saying goes. We can start as wanting the best child, better health, and more intelligence, but in any case, we are not very far from eugenics. Eugenics have a strong opposition because it relies on selecting people based on genetic traits that are changed in order to bring about a specific characteristic in an individual. Eugenics may be the start of a socially unacceptable bias or discrimination based on the fact that the majority of mankind is naturally not fit genetically to qualify as persons almost physically and mentally perfect. In a world where only the most perfect humans would be chosen to survive, no room would be left for ‘inferior’ people. A past historical event connected with this idea is the Holocaust during which, people were gassed in order to get rid of their races or experimented upon in order to find out what physical perfection meant in order to improve the superior race. In addition, Dr. Kass deals with the traditional way of reproduction. Humans reproduce by sexual reproduction and have done so since the beginning of times. Since the announcement about cloning the first sheep, people have been upset about it because they feel that developing the technique further opens the proverbial Pandora’s Box. Will cloning affect our human dignity or our human nature? Moreover, based on the assumption that cloning humans would be accepted, he asks what status a clone would hold in our society. Past historical experiences with slavery and racism have troubled society till today. In fact, the general human population alienates who is different. It has been our nature people to ostracize others who are not judged normal. What would be the place of a clone in our society? What about a social status? What about legal perspectives concerning the rights and connections to their family? Dr. Kass also explains that science has more and more meddled with human reproduction, which he finds troublesome. He believes that there is an excess of consideration of what science in general can do to solve problems. In fact, by remedying one problem, it always creates new ones. In conclusion, cloning seems to possess multiple challenges to its establishment in society. The majority of humans feel that it is an attack on their human nature (reproduction and morality), which they hold sacred. The supporters of cloning are mainly concerned with what cloning can do for mankind in terms of acquiring scientific knowledge to cure diseases like cancer. Time will tell if cloning will bring doom or a better lot in life for humans.

Theme Analysis of D.H. Lawrences The Horse Dealers Daughter :: D H Lawrence Horse Dealer Daughter Essays Papers

Theme Analysis of D.H. Lawrence's â€Å"The Horse Dealer's Daughter† Many authors are recognized by a reoccurring theme found throughout their works. The author D.H. Lawrence can be classified into this group. He is well known for his reoccurring theme that romantic love is psychologically redeeming. He wrote â€Å"The Horse Dealer’s Daughter† , a short story that exemplifies this theme quite accurately, in 1922 (Sagar 12). Through excellent use of symbolism in â€Å"The Horse Dealer’s Daughter†, Lawrence renders his theme of romantic love being psychologically redeeming through the emotional development of the two main characters, Mabel and Dr. Fergusson. In â€Å"The Horse Dealer’s Daughter,† symbols are used to fulfill the quest of happiness and love. This love story has many symbols, which show hidden meaning. One can fully understand a story, if one can point out certain symbols. Symbols create ideas and images for the reader to better understand the story. (Symbol)Mabel, one of the two main characters in this story, is depressed and suicidal. After her mother died, she feels like there is nothing to live for. Her mother was the love and joy in her life; without her, she is lost. All she has left is her house, which she is extremely proud of, and her brother, which she seems not to care for. She decides to release herself from her troubles by drowning herself in a pond. The other main character, Dr. Fergusson, sees her and tries to save her life. This pond is a strong symbol with many meanings. It is a start of a new experience, and a change of two people’s lives. The pond is described as dead and cold. This symbolizes that Dr. Fergusson had no feelings for Mabel before the incident. The narrator describes the pond as lifeless right before the doctor had entered it. Before going in, the relationship between them was dead and cold, and they had no passionate feelings for one another. Dr. Fergusson tries to rescue Mabel for no other reason but because he was doing his job. The pond also describes Dr. Fergusson’s life as dull and pointless. His life was still and silent before he had met her. He was afraid to go in too deep into the pond, and was afraid of drowning. This represents his fear of falling in love. He was scared of the water because he could not swim, and also because he was scared of love.

Sustaining Employee Performance

In this paper, team D will address the course design objectives of Riordan Manufacturing. First of all, the team will pick two job positions within the company, and discuss the general functions of performance management systems, job evaluation methods, compensation plans, and the importance of employee benefit plans. The two job positions discussed in this paper will be the Director of Administration, and Human Resources/recruiter. These positions were selected due to the extreme amount of importance their roles play in completing Riordan Manufacturing’s Mission. General functions of performance management systems The general function of performance management systems in organizations is for employers to manage employees’ performance and development by providing individual feedback on their performance evaluation to identify and plan measurable areas for personal development to ensure the organization’s strategic goals are being met (DeCenzo and Robbins, 2007). For years, many organizations provided appraisal type performance reviews to their employees that ranked them against other employees. This type of ranking system is problematic, as it is unfair to compare employees from different departments who’s primary goals may be different from one another and can viewed as putting down employees who may be unable to put in as many hours or as much effort as others who have only one set project at a time and can bog down to set higher numbers. If employee development is not properly measured and managed, the organization may find it difficult to meet their strategic goals. This in turn can create complications between mainstream workers and management, as well as the company, and their customers. Riordan Manufacturing uses a behavioral-anchored rating scale for their annual performance evaluations. The employees are rated by their performance in different areas of competencies to determine if they met, exceeded, or if they did not meet the standard expectations of the job. â€Å"Behaviorally anchored rating scales specify definite, observable, and measurable job behavior† (DeCenzo and Robbins, 2007, p. 264). This rating is issued and determined by managers and is a sufficient measure for performance management. Though this rating style eliminates competitive work habits that may assist in high productivity, it is a proven system that works much more consistent (Noe, Gerhart, & Wright, 2012) . Job evaluation methods Job evaluations are important for every organization to use because it ranks each position in the organization and is used to determine the pay structures for positions. Positions are usually broken down by responsibility, skill, effort, and work conditions. It is also helpful to separate the positions into groups such as managerial, professional, sales, and so on. This makes the rankings more valid within the job categories. To evaluate the director of administration a good evaluation method would be the ordering method. The ordering method uses a committee composed of managers and employee reps to arrange jobs in ranking order from highest importance to lower importance. The base of this is to compare two jobs and decide what job is more important or difficult. Then to add another job to the comparison until all of the positions have been compared and ranked. There are two major drawbacks to doing evaluations this way. One is there can be many positions within the organization which can make the processes confusing and long. Two, there are no consistent standards in the ranking evaluations. Another way to evaluate the director of administration position is through the classification method. This method was developed so that a standard was set in the evaluation processes. Classifications are set based off of skills, knowledge, and responsibilities and then by classes such as managerial, sales staff, and so on. Once these are established, then they are put in order by importance based on the criteria they are in. This process can be just as confusing as the ordering method if not done properly. A human resource department can be evaluated with the point method. The point method breaks positions down based on identifiable marks like skill, effort, and responsibility, and assigns points to the criteria’s. This method can be helpful because all positions with the same amount of points are in the same pay grade. Jobs can change over time but the rating scale under the point method stay intact (DeCenzo& Robbins, 2007). Even though the point method is the most reliable it is the most time consuming. Compensation plans Director Administrator and Human Resources/Recruiter are both important functions in a business. They have common commonalities. Between the two, they have distinctive, important functions. The Director of Administrations functions are to meet business goals and organize the personnel in the business. They also operate with financial management and marketing management. Human Resources are responsible to manage, hire, making plans to retain employees, and find the right candidates. Human Resources are an important tool for any organization, industry, and geographic location. The difference between Administration and Human resources is that the administrative function is predominantly to maintain the conditions of employment. On the other hand, Human Resources use the traditional process to manage Riordan Manufacturing’s goals and strategies, which follows with developmental organizational activities. Both positions seek for the compensation plans for the organization by administering to employee bonuses, overtime calculations, and payroll. Riordan Manufacturing focuses on Administration and Human Resources, because it can create investments in the future if the training programs are well elaborated and developed. Both fall into finding the best program functions (technical, finance). The development of employees is very important for Riordan Manufacturing since it helps create satisfaction among employees. The Board of Directors also maintains the executive and auditing committees under the corporate governance plan (Apollo Group, Inc. 2011). Riordan Manufacturing also has to implement a corporate compliance plan to have a safe future for the company. Riordan’s compliance plan will guide the company on how to handle current and future issues. The compliance plan is focused on working with issues, such as technological, logistical, and governance. By performing well in these areas, the company could be prosperous. The company has to maintain high quality in the performance of products and processes. This will help the company to be unsusceptible to product liability issues. Importance of employee benefit plans to employees working in team D’s chosen positions Director of Administration and Human Resources/Recruiter† Employees are offered benefits as a means to provide additional compensation above their regular salary to make their lives a little easier outside of the workplace. Health insurance, vacation and holiday time, social security and retirement plans, are all important benefits to employees and their families. At Riordan Manufacturing, the Human Resources Recruiters receive the same benefits that are of fered to every employee, which is an important factor for employee retention. The Directors at Riordan are offered special perks such as, travel benefits, a company vehicle, expense accounts, and other benefits that are not offered to every employee. Executive level employees receive these special perks to encourage them to work hard for the organization and to promote loyalty in the event of a hostile takeover. Conclusion Ending on a positive note, the team demonstrated in informative content to the reader, an understanding of the concepts of sustaining employee performance in this paper. These concepts are the four important activities of the HRM motivation function, and the connections to stimulating employees are observed. The team identified two job positions within Riordan Manufacturing, which are the Director of Administration, and Human Resources/recruiting. The team described the general functions of performance management systems. The team suggested two job evaluation methods for both of the job positions and answered questions about the advantages and disadvantages of these methods based on the recruiter and Director of Administration and Human Resources job positions. The team compared and contrasted the possible compensation plans for those two job titles. The team explained the importance of providing employee benefit plans to the recruiter/director of HR. An in-depth, comprehensive overview of activities planned in sustaining employee performance in the two positions at Riordan as referenced from week five materials, and the virtual organization site, followed by a logical conclusion. Sustaining Employee Performance In this paper, team D will address the course design objectives of Riordan Manufacturing. First of all, the team will pick two job positions within the company, and discuss the general functions of performance management systems, job evaluation methods, compensation plans, and the importance of employee benefit plans. The two job positions discussed in this paper will be the Director of Administration, and Human Resources/recruiter. These positions were selected due to the extreme amount of importance their roles play in completing Riordan Manufacturing’s Mission. General functions of performance management systems The general function of performance management systems in organizations is for employers to manage employees’ performance and development by providing individual feedback on their performance evaluation to identify and plan measurable areas for personal development to ensure the organization’s strategic goals are being met (DeCenzo and Robbins, 2007). For years, many organizations provided appraisal type performance reviews to their employees that ranked them against other employees. This type of ranking system is problematic, as it is unfair to compare employees from different departments who’s primary goals may be different from one another and can viewed as putting down employees who may be unable to put in as many hours or as much effort as others who have only one set project at a time and can bog down to set higher numbers. If employee development is not properly measured and managed, the organization may find it difficult to meet their strategic goals. This in turn can create complications between mainstream workers and management, as well as the company, and their customers. Riordan Manufacturing uses a behavioral-anchored rating scale for their annual performance evaluations. The employees are rated by their performance in different areas of competencies to determine if they met, exceeded, or if they did not meet the standard expectations of the job. â€Å"Behaviorally anchored rating scales specify definite, observable, and measurable job behavior† (DeCenzo and Robbins, 2007, p. 264). This rating is issued and determined by managers and is a sufficient measure for performance management. Though this rating style eliminates competitive work habits that may assist in high productivity, it is a proven system that works much more consistent (Noe, Gerhart, & Wright, 2012) . Job evaluation methods Job evaluations are important for every organization to use because it ranks each position in the organization and is used to determine the pay structures for positions. Positions are usually broken down by responsibility, skill, effort, and work conditions. It is also helpful to separate the positions into groups such as managerial, professional, sales, and so on. This makes the rankings more valid within the job categories. To evaluate the director of administration a good evaluation method would be the ordering method. The ordering method uses a committee composed of managers and employee reps to arrange jobs in ranking order from highest importance to lower importance. The base of this is to compare two jobs and decide what job is more important or difficult. Then to add another job to the comparison until all of the positions have been compared and ranked. There are two major drawbacks to doing evaluations this way. One is there can be many positions within the organization which can make the processes confusing and long. Two, there are no consistent standards in the ranking evaluations. Another way to evaluate the director of administration position is through the classification method. This method was developed so that a standard was set in the evaluation processes. Classifications are set based off of skills, knowledge, and responsibilities and then by classes such as managerial, sales staff, and so on. Once these are established, then they are put in order by importance based on the criteria they are in. This process can be just as confusing as the ordering method if not done properly. A human resource department can be evaluated with the point method. The point method breaks positions down based on identifiable marks like skill, effort, and responsibility, and assigns points to the criteria’s. This method can be helpful because all positions with the same amount of points are in the same pay grade. Jobs can change over time but the rating scale under the point method stay intact (DeCenzo& Robbins, 2007). Even though the point method is the most reliable it is the most time consuming. Compensation plans Director Administrator and Human Resources/Recruiter are both important functions in a business. They have common commonalities. Between the two, they have distinctive, important functions. The Director of Administrations functions are to meet business goals and organize the personnel in the business. They also operate with financial management and marketing management. Human Resources are responsible to manage, hire, making plans to retain employees, and find the right candidates. Human Resources are an important tool for any organization, industry, and geographic location. The difference between Administration and Human resources is that the administrative function is predominantly to maintain the conditions of employment. On the other hand, Human Resources use the traditional process to manage Riordan Manufacturing’s goals and strategies, which follows with developmental organizational activities. Both positions seek for the compensation plans for the organization by administering to employee bonuses, overtime calculations, and payroll. Riordan Manufacturing focuses on Administration and Human Resources, because it can create investments in the future if the training programs are well elaborated and developed. Both fall into finding the best program functions (technical, finance). The development of employees is very important for Riordan Manufacturing since it helps create satisfaction among employees. The Board of Directors also maintains the executive and auditing committees under the corporate governance plan (Apollo Group, Inc. 2011). Riordan Manufacturing also has to implement a corporate compliance plan to have a safe future for the company. Riordan’s compliance plan will guide the company on how to handle current and future issues. The compliance plan is focused on working with issues, such as technological, logistical, and governance. By performing well in these areas, the company could be prosperous. The company has to maintain high quality in the performance of products and processes. This will help the company to be unsusceptible to product liability issues. Importance of employee benefit plans to employees working in team D’s chosen positions Director of Administration and Human Resources/Recruiter† Employees are offered benefits as a means to provide additional compensation above their regular salary to make their lives a little easier outside of the workplace. Health insurance, vacation and holiday time, social security and retirement plans, are all important benefits to employees and their families. At Riordan Manufacturing, the Human Resources Recruiters receive the same benefits that are of fered to every employee, which is an important factor for employee retention. The Directors at Riordan are offered special perks such as, travel benefits, a company vehicle, expense accounts, and other benefits that are not offered to every employee. Executive level employees receive these special perks to encourage them to work hard for the organization and to promote loyalty in the event of a hostile takeover. Conclusion Ending on a positive note, the team demonstrated in informative content to the reader, an understanding of the concepts of sustaining employee performance in this paper. These concepts are the four important activities of the HRM motivation function, and the connections to stimulating employees are observed. The team identified two job positions within Riordan Manufacturing, which are the Director of Administration, and Human Resources/recruiting. The team described the general functions of performance management systems. The team suggested two job evaluation methods for both of the job positions and answered questions about the advantages and disadvantages of these methods based on the recruiter and Director of Administration and Human Resources job positions. The team compared and contrasted the possible compensation plans for those two job titles. The team explained the importance of providing employee benefit plans to the recruiter/director of HR. An in-depth, comprehensive overview of activities planned in sustaining employee performance in the two positions at Riordan as referenced from week five materials, and the virtual organization site, followed by a logical conclusion.

Campbell Soup Essay

Company Objectives The company’s objective is to enable business and operational success through integrated world class solutions and development by utilizing the organizational restructure of the Engineering and R&D departments. Having a centralized organization with a decentralized engineering department makes meeting the company objective quite difficult. Also, if the company’s objective does not align with the department specific objectives Campbell Soup is setting their selves up for failure. Sales and Marketing are concerned with increasing market share and gaining profit, while the Plants are worried about operational performance, and Engineering is focused on individual parts of the system. In order to have a successful company objective each department must be working towards the same goal. For example, if the plants are measured based on operating results and performance, when launching a new product line we have to be flexible and put in different performance metrics and set a glide path with a specific timeline. Competing on consistent quality, time/availability (want to be the first) (want to always have it on the shelves), [ARE THEY COMPETING ON PRICE? Having a reasonable price, can’t be an expensive product but people are willing to pay a premium price?] Specific Problem Defined Currently after quite a few years of product development Plastigon is still in the process improvement stage and is not a finished program. The project team is facing difficulties involving people, processes, data, and systems. There is not a clear line of responsibility and ownership for people at the individual and group level. The development team for the Plastigon line was decentralized over the P3 and has suffered a high turnover rate of its developers. If engineers were leaving the company or project because of the amount of travel required the correct engineers were not selected for the project, or the scope of the project was not clearly defined. The knowledge that the individuals on the project possess is one of the most valuable resources, especially during the product development phase. Project management at Campbell is not a clear, identified, well-connected end to end standard process. The data collected and analyzed throughout the program could not be trusted because there were no steps in place to ensure reliability. For example, testing the production line with water instead of  the actual product gives the firm inaccurate results. There are large discrepancies in the viscosity of soup and water, and the issues you run into will be completely different. If the regulations and procedures are put in place so that test products are not shipped to customers by mistake, test products can be labeled as such. A reevaluation of what regulations are necessary needs to take place for the firm to be able to grow. It didn’t seem as though costs were allocated in standard process. The systems that are put in place need to enable people, processes and data to work for the organization. If Campbell had the right tools and methods in place to support the work that occurs in the organization, the Plastigon line would have been up and running. They had this problem because they are not familiar with how to launching a completely brand new product line. This is outside of their comfort zone and therefore it has effectively stalled the product line due to lack of interest, conflicting interests, decentralized teams, and engineering issues. Individuals were not working cross-functionally but instead they focused heavily on their specific issues instead of the overarching strategic goal. There were several communication issues between different departments because there was not a shared vision. Problems – Not having meetings. Plants not being involved. There isn’t any real data analysis in this case. We analyzed the data to prove significance in the other sections. 2. What should Elsner do about Plastigon? Alternative Strategies Elsner has a few options available to him Continue the current development plan that his predecessors have started Scrap Plastigon and move towards a container that imitates proven microwaveable products Centralize the current development plan and roll out the Plastigon line. 2. Each of these options has their pro’s and con’s. Continuing current development as planned has proven to be costly and slow, but is the most obvious route. Scrapping Plastigon will most likely guarantee a successful microwaveable container, but will prove to be unpopular due to the substantial investment in Plastigon. Centralizing the  development is the â€Å"middle option† allowing Elsner to have a more focused approach on the existing plan. This could cause more issues within Campbell because of their decentralized development teams though. Recommendation Campbell has already committed a large amount of human and financial capital, $10M, into developing the Plastigon production line. They want a return on their investment. Although they have lost the first mover advantage to other companies that have entered with shelf-stable microwavable products they still have a superior product and they can steal market share from them. Since they had a radical innovation if they came to market with a less than perfect product they would have been allowed to make changes in the future to improve on their initial product. Their strong quality reputation would not have been ruined. They need to have a batch process for this production line. The beginning of the process will be a flow shop where are the standard processes are performed but then it will be a job shop towards the end of the process where we have the cooker and incubator. In order to compete with other firms they will need to have consistent quality, and finished good inventory. The beginning of the process is the hardest because that is when toy have to program knowledge into the automated machinery but then your costs will go down because you have a low waged and narrow skilled workforce. Launch DRG now and work on Plastigon, do not fund any other programs. Right not the Plastigon margins are horrible, total cost per unit = $1.49-1.59 selling at whole price for $.85, they are not making any money. Need to reevaluate costs. 3. What can the firm learn from its experience with Plastigon? 1. Campbell’s current development process is outdated and unwieldy 2. Campbell’s competitors have more efficient product development and rollout processes 3. Campbell’s business structure (engineering, product roll out, manager incentives) is not geared towards developing the next generation of their products (disruptive technologies) 4. If Campbell is going to be competitive in future product lines it will need to restructure its company’s development process. 5. Campbell is vulnerable to new technologies taking market share away from it. Big Problem- Beyond the case (long-term) The Palastigon program can turn out to be beneficial to the Campbell Soup Company if they take the approach of levering the problems they were faced with during this period and turning them into company solutions, guidelines and safety nets. The project management process needs to be reevaluated and set process steps need to be put into place. Non-value added activities, like developing product lines without first piloting the process. They need to have process owners or strategic project managers that are responsible for project results and integration between the cross-functional team. Process innovation improvement is a key takeaway. Revisit the current state process and identify areas for development. After this new product development initiatives will be easier to launch – Management and Engineering interface Problems can lead to streamlining an effective process for the future and result in potential solutions. Project management at the individual and group level. Take the key learnings from this specific project and launch corporate wide initiatives and procedures, for effective and efficient project management.

Free Essays on Gender Inequality

In recent 14th Census 2001, the states with lowest decadal growth recorded are Kerala (9.42 per cent), Tamil Nadu (11.19 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (13.86 per cent), and Goa (14.89 per cent). Both Kerala and Tamil Nadu show a better rate of literacy than Andhra Pradesh. In Goa, the majority of population consists of Christians and so women enjoy a higher degree of liberty than those of other states. But the case of Andhra Pradesh is unique. It is less industrialized and has less literary rate than Tamil Nadu. Yet it has shown the sharpest decline in population growth rate among all the states (10.34 per cent). The average annual exponential growth rate has declined to 1.93 per cent in 1991-2001 from 2.14 per cent in 1981-1991. The total population of Andhra Pradesh as at 00:00 hrs of 1st March, 2001 stood at 75,727,541 as per Provincial Census of India, 2001. A radical change has taken place in the family life of the women of rural Andhra Pradesh because of the scheme of DWCRA, which empowered them. Andhra Pradesh occupies the fifth place in population as against the fourth in the previous Census of India. During 1981-1991, this state witnessed an increase of 24.20 per cent in population, which came down to 13.86 per cent during 1991-2001 while the country’s decadal growth rate is 21.34 per cent. This achievement of Andhra Pradesh is spectacular. The State of Andhra Pradesh has every right to claim the credits of the statistics of Census of India, 2001 for its performance regarding the population control in India as it is in the forefront of empowering women in the state by means of DWCRA. Presently, 4,20,000 DWCRA groups are working only in Andhra Pradesh, which is more than 40 percent of the total DWCRA groups in India. The main highlights of the DWCRA are: the women members of DWCRA form a group of 10 to 15 women at the village level for delivery of services like credit and skill training, cash and infrastructure supp... Free Essays on Gender Inequality Free Essays on Gender Inequality In recent 14th Census 2001, the states with lowest decadal growth recorded are Kerala (9.42 per cent), Tamil Nadu (11.19 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (13.86 per cent), and Goa (14.89 per cent). Both Kerala and Tamil Nadu show a better rate of literacy than Andhra Pradesh. In Goa, the majority of population consists of Christians and so women enjoy a higher degree of liberty than those of other states. But the case of Andhra Pradesh is unique. It is less industrialized and has less literary rate than Tamil Nadu. Yet it has shown the sharpest decline in population growth rate among all the states (10.34 per cent). The average annual exponential growth rate has declined to 1.93 per cent in 1991-2001 from 2.14 per cent in 1981-1991. The total population of Andhra Pradesh as at 00:00 hrs of 1st March, 2001 stood at 75,727,541 as per Provincial Census of India, 2001. A radical change has taken place in the family life of the women of rural Andhra Pradesh because of the scheme of DWCRA, which empowered them. Andhra Pradesh occupies the fifth place in population as against the fourth in the previous Census of India. During 1981-1991, this state witnessed an increase of 24.20 per cent in population, which came down to 13.86 per cent during 1991-2001 while the country’s decadal growth rate is 21.34 per cent. This achievement of Andhra Pradesh is spectacular. The State of Andhra Pradesh has every right to claim the credits of the statistics of Census of India, 2001 for its performance regarding the population control in India as it is in the forefront of empowering women in the state by means of DWCRA. Presently, 4,20,000 DWCRA groups are working only in Andhra Pradesh, which is more than 40 percent of the total DWCRA groups in India. The main highlights of the DWCRA are: the women members of DWCRA form a group of 10 to 15 women at the village level for delivery of services like credit and skill training, cash and infrastructure supp... Free Essays on Gender Inequality Mohandas Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 at Porbandar on the north-west coast of India. He was the third son and the last of four children of well-to-do Hindu parents. The Gandhis belonged to the Modh Bania subdivision of the Vaisya caste, representing the trader class in the traditional Hindu caste system and were originally grocers. Gandhi’s grandfather, father and uncle were dewan, or prime minister, to ruler of Porbandar; and his father was later prime minister of two other similar tiny states. None of these states was subject to direct British rule, and consequently old Indian customs and traditions were much more in evidence there than in most parts of British India. Gandhi grew up in a traditional Hindu family. He inherited his father’s stubbornness, incorruptibility and practical sense and his mother’s life of religion, devotion and abstinence. Growing up Gandhi often listened to the religious discussions of his father and his friends who practiced the Muslim and Parsi religions. Young Gandhi’s exposure to these teachings does not mean that he had developed a deep faith in religion or in ahimsa (nonviolence) at an early age. Gandhi says, â€Å"But one thing took deep root in me- the conviction that morality is the basis of things, and that truth is the substance of all morality.† He learned then the guiding principle: â€Å"Return good for evil.† And he began to make everything he did an experiment with truth. Gandhi started school in Porbandar, where he probably attended the local Dhoolishala, or Dust school, where the school teacher taught the children how to write letters of the Gujarati alphabet in the dust on the floor. He had no difficulty in composing, along with other children, Gujarati rhymed couplets ridiculing the lame teacher, but encountered some problem in mastering the multiplication table. â€Å"My intellect must have been sluggish, and my memory raw,† says the adult Mohandas about his schoolday...

Understanding and Using Pointers in Delphi

Understanding and Using Pointers in Delphi Even though pointers arent as important in Delphi as they are in C or C, theyre such a basic tool that almost anything having to do with programming must deal with pointers in some fashion. Its for that reason that you might read about how a string or object is really just a pointer, or that an event handler such as OnClick, is actually a pointer to a procedure. Pointer to Data Type Simply put, a pointer is a variable that holds the address of anything in memory. To concrete this definition, keep in mind that everything used by an application is stored somewhere in the computers memory. Because a pointer holds the address of another variable, its said to point to that variable. Most of the time, pointers in Delphi point to a specific type: variValue, j : integer;pIntValue : ^integer;beginiValue : 2001;pIntValue : iValue;...j: pIntValue^;end; The syntax to declare a pointer data type uses a caret (^). In the above code, iValue is an integer type variable and pIntValue is an integer type pointer. Since a pointer is nothing more than an address in memory, we must assign to it the location (address) of the value stored in the iValue integer variable. The operator returns the address of a variable (or a function or procedure as will be seen below). Equivalent to the operator is Addr function. Note that pIntValues value is not 2001. In this sample code, pIntValue is a typed integer pointer. Good programming style is to use typed pointers as much as you can. The Pointer data type is a generic pointer type; it represents a pointer to any data. Note that when ^ appears after a pointer variable, it de-references the pointer; that is, it returns the value stored at the memory address held by the pointer. In this example, variable j has the same value as iValue. It might look like this has no purpose when we can simply assign iValue to j, but this piece of code lies behind most calls to Win API. NILing Pointers Unassigned pointers are dangerous. Since pointers let us work directly with computers memory, if we try to (by mistake) write to a protected location in memory, we could get an access violation error. This is the reason we should always initialize a pointer to NIL. NIL is a special constant that can be assigned to any pointer. When nil is assigned to a pointer, the pointer doesn’t reference anything. Delphi presents, for example, an empty dynamic array or a long string as a nil pointer. Character Pointers The fundamental types PAnsiChar and PWideChar represent pointers to AnsiChar and WideChar values. The generic PChar represents a pointer to a Char variable. These character pointers are used to manipulate null-terminated strings. Think of a PChar as being a pointer to a null-terminated string or to the array that represents one. Pointers to Records When we define a record or other data type, its a common practice also to define a pointer to that type. This makes it easy to manipulate instances of the type without copying large blocks of memory. The ability to have pointers to records (and arrays) makes it much easier to set up complicated data structures as linked lists and trees. typepNextItem ^TLinkedListItemTLinkedListItem recordsName : String;iValue : Integer;NextItem : pNextItem;end; The idea behind linked lists is to give us the possibility to store the address to the next linked item in a list inside a NextItem record field. Pointers to records can also be used when storing custom data for every tree view item, for example. Procedural and Method Pointers Another important pointer concept in Delphi is procedure and method pointers. Pointers that point to the address of a procedure or function are called procedural pointers. Method pointers are similar to procedure pointers. However, instead of pointing to standalone procedures, they must point to class methods. Method pointer is a pointer that contains information about both the name and object thats being invoked. Pointers and Windows API The most common use for pointers in Delphi is interfacing to C and C code, which includes accessing the Windows API. Windows API functions use a number of data types that might be unfamiliar to the Delphi programmer. Most of the parameters in calling API functions are pointers to some data type. As stated above, we use null-terminated strings in Delphi when calling Windows API functions. In many cases, when an API call returns a value in a buffer or pointer to a data structure, these buffers and data structures must be allocated by the application before the API call is made. The SHBrowseForFolder Windows API function is one example. Pointer and Memory Allocation The real power of pointers comes from the ability to set aside memory while the program is executing. This piece of code should be enough to prove that working with pointers is not as hard as it might seem at first. Its used to change the text (caption) of the control with the Handle provided. procedure GetTextFromHandle(hWND: THandle) ;var pText : PChar; //a pointer to char (see above)TextLen : integer;begin{get the length of the text}TextLen:GetWindowTextLength(hWND) ;{alocate memory}GetMem(pText,TextLen) ; // takes a pointer{get the controls text}GetWindowText(hWND, pText, TextLen 1) ;{display the text}ShowMessage(String(pText)){free the memory}FreeMem(pText) ;end;

Case Study on Research in Motion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Case Study on Research in Motion - Essay Example Problem Definition With the introduction of Apple’s iPhone in the mobile industry, it was expected that market for BlackBerry would be hit severely. Common perception was that market for mobile phones was already over-congested and any new entry could have debilitating effect on Research in Motion (RIM). Jim Balsillie, the co-CEO of RIM, also felt the emerging challenge to RIM from the new technology convergence and started planning a strategy to position his company for capturing maximum market coverage (Carayannopoulos, 2012). Jim Balsillie considered iPhone as â€Å"one more entrant into an already very busy space.† RIM’s enterprise market was the target of competitors. Balsillie wanted to pursue a strategy the like of water rafting, with the purpose of attaining, â€Å"every last dollar [he could] possibly get† in revenue but also safeguarding his ship from the â€Å"rocks† lying in the way and place the company securely (Carayannopoulos, 2012, p. 1). According to Donnelly (2011) RIM’s stay in the market could be doubtful with the arrival of other strong entrants in the marketplace. Consumers have Apple’s iPad and the latest release iPad2. Another competitor, Cisco, is also fully prepared with its integrated release of Cius tablet, offering tough competition to RIM. Problem Analysis The consumer market for RIM’s Blackberry products, namely the Blackberry â€Å"Pearl† and the Blackberry â€Å"Curve†, according to market analysts, was an intelligent move, as it would offer RIM vast consumer market full of potential customers; also the enterprise market was comparatively smaller than the consumer market. It was definite, as observed by market analysts that with the advancement in technology and increase in competition, challenges before the RIM management in the context of realizing sales targets were genuine (Carayannopoulos, 2012). Global wireless market had been showing seamless growth an d subscribers were sure to cross the 3 billion mark by the end of 2007. Wireless device users were divided in different market segments of consumer using the mobile instrument for personal use, the prosumer using it for both business and personal use, and the enterprise segment where the device was wholesomely purchased for employee use. Market was already overcrowded with players such as Nokia and Motorola possessing comprehensive brand image, financial strength, experience, and network carrier collaborations worldwide. Their handsets were cost-competitive but were deficient in some sections such as data transmission and players like Nokia had collaborations with other partners for embedding email feature in their devices (Carayannopoulos, 2012). iPhone with dimensions of 4.5 by 2.4 by .46 was available to users with one large touch-screen functionality. Various features of iPhone such as email, camera, videos, music, and internet, according to analysts, set its class distinctly in multimedia. All reviews although were not as promising, as the whole web pages could be seen as on a computer and downloading was slack due to the sluggish speed of the AT & T’s network. There were other crucial business add-on features missing such as Microsoft Office/Exchange enabling both voice and non-voice data exchange and downloading over the internet. Balsillie finds Apple’s strategy of compelling subscribers to visit Apple’s iTunes music stores for activating the phones in

Zipcars Business Motivational Model for Customers and Partners Case Study

Zipcars Business Motivational Model for Customers and Partners - Case Study Example By introducing the Zipcars, the company helps the customers to save up to seventy per cent of their savings because they only pay for the hours they use the cars. Additionally, the cars are energy efficient and contribute less to the discharge of exhaust fumes into the environment. This motivates customers further. As a means of further motivating customer, the company has collaborated with several other organizations, businesses, and universities through some specific programs. As a way of reducing costs for businesses, Zipcar rents vehicles to them to use during the week when they are needed most. The same thing happens with universities as well. These services motivate the organizations to work harder with the mindset of cutting down on costs. It also aids cities in saving on their parking space. On a scale of 1 to 5, I will give the business a motivation of four while 3 to the universities. The cities’ motivation could be 2.5. 2. As Its Simplest Best The idea behind Zipcar is to help businesses cut down on the costs of running their businesses. Apparently, most business organizations incur huge costs in keeping and maintaining their motor vehicles. The same applies to universities and colleges that face the danger of vehicle wreckages and damages due to student’s responsibilities. Additionally, with as much as $ 1 million going into savings from the Zipcar system, the cities are worth adopting the strategy. With these concepts in mind, potential beneficiaries of Zipcar’s services would be easily convinced to adopt the services of the firm. 3. Figure 6.3 Zipcar’s business model involves the four simple steps. These are â€Å"joining, reserve, unlock, and drive.† In this model, the firm urges its clients to join it through registering as members. The organization has 500,000 members with cards. A person pays a fee of $25 to join. In the reserve, one retains membership with the firm. The person pays an annual membership fee o f $50 to reserve his or her place to restore the membership card. The membership card allows the client to unlock the potentials that come with the company. Then the customer drives away with the car 4. Zipcar’s Rapid Growth and Strength Zipcar is growing at an express rate. This is because ten years after its formation, it was able to offer a whooping 8000 vehicles across the urban areas of Canada, North America, and London. Additionally, the firm has also expanded its operations and penetrated deep into the market by collaborating with other business enterprises to cut down their operating costs and increase the profit margins for the firm. However, the firm has an excellent operational model. Its cars are energy efficient. Nevertheless, by collaborating with several business enterprises, the firm will be forced to use heavy trucks in some cases. Apparently, heavy trucks are key contributors of carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere. This will jeopardize Zipcar’ s strength of ensuring environmental sustainability. Discussion Questions of Case 4.2 The compelling reason for the successful business plan competition is the strong vision. This is partially attributable to the kind of approach it used in presenting its ideas to the audience. Although it is a business enterprise driven by the need to make profit, it puts emphasis on its humanitarian assistance mission across the disadvantaged populations in the developing world. Apparently, most people are touched by the deplorable conditions that some populations of the world go through. The marketing strategy for D.Light would involve demonstrations to potential clients. As a cofounder, I will seek the approval of the governments of these countries with downtrodden populations and offer some samples to the