The Desirability of Engagement Strategies in the 21st Century Essay

The Desirability of Engagement Strategies in the 21st Century - Essay Example An accurate definition of ‘engagement’ is needed in order to identify its actual importance to organisations and employees (Torrington, Hall, & Taylor, 2008). However, the best definition depends on the specific circumstances and features of the organisation. MacLeod defines engagement as a process of building ‘mutual respect in the workplace’ (MacLeod & Clarke, 2009, p. 6). He believes that engagement is not only beneficial to the organisation or the employees, but to the nation as a whole. MacLeod views employee engagement as an organisational or corporate strategy intended to make sure that the members of the organisation are committed to its objectives and ideals, driven to contribute to the success of the organisation, and are simultaneously capable of improving their self-respect. The 2012 CIPD Report stated that there are two forms of engagement, namely, emotional and transactional. Emotional engagement takes place when individuals genuinely identify with their organisation and job. It occurs when employees are driven by the desire to perform well at work. On the other hand, transactional engagement refers to a two-way relationship. It appears to be about acknowledging the dynamic involvement of all members of a relationship (e.g. employer and employee). Basically, engagement is characterised as a psychological condition that involves an affective and cognitive aspect, or, feeling and thinking, respectively. Basically, work engagement is a constructive affective and cognitive condition that is stimulated and tends to lead to motivated attitude and behaviour at work (Armstrong, 2006). According to Lucas and colleagues (2007), engagement is a... Employee engagement has been correlated in different studies to greater innovation and efficiency, lower turnover and number of absences, higher earnings per share, and so on. For example, the study of Corporate Leadership Council (CLC) reported that organisations with a well engaged workforce progress more rapidly than companies with disengaged employees. Likewise, the study of Towers Watson discovered that companies with high levels of engagement experienced an increase in net profit margin and operating margin. Company studies also emphasise correlations between organisational outcome and engagement. The 2005 ISR research reported that organisations with low engagement levels experienced a decline in operating margin and net profit over a 3-year period. The Hay Group reported that specialised service companies with high levels of employee engagement were significantly more efficient. Stanford University reports that employee engagement leads to substantial organisational advantage s. Gallup studies found out that engaged employees are more likely to remain in the organisation, more efficient, and friendlier to customers.

Social Studies Native Amercian Group Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Social Studies Native Amercian Group - Essay Example They therefore had to migrate to regions where food was in plenty and follow migrating animals too. Climatic changes affected how communities lived and built houses in the past, and the main purpose of shelter was to get cover from harsh weather and wild animals. Winter created the need for Iroquoians to build longhouses, which were houses that had greater length than width, had no window and hosted around 30 – 60 people depending on their size. Each family had their section in the longhouse. They used wood from woodlands and elm bark to build these houses. The Algonquians also built longhouses during winter, although they also built the lighter wigwams during the warm seasons. The Iroquoians main source of food was agricultural products. They grew and ate corn and vegetables, although they also hunted animals, for example deer, and also fished in the nearby lakes and rivers. Examples of water animals they went for are the eels. Contrary to them, the Algonquians were mostly hunters and gatherers, hunting mostly the white tailed deer during winter. In summer, when the lakes were no longer frozen, they would fish for food and also kill seals for meat. They left their inland settlements during spring and built others at ocean fronts, depending on sea food and also gathering some fruits and wild vegetables (Hirschfelder, 2000). The two tribes used bows and arrows to hunt animals, although the Algonquians also used techniques such as traps and snares on small animals. Meat was eaten communally, cooked by either men or women depending on the time and occasion. Skins and fur were the main raw materials for making clothes among the Iroquoians, and these were sewn together using needles made from animal bones. Deerskin was a favorite and could be sewn into leggings and tunics. Shells and porcupine quills were dyed and used to decorate the clothes. They wove mats and baskets from tree barks and used clay for cooking

Organisational culture, leadership and ethics in maintaining a Essay

Organisational culture, leadership and ethics in maintaining a successful workplace culture - Essay Example In order to achieve results like this, an organisation will have to understand its culture, evolution, patterns and future requirements. The concept of workplace culture has been evolving overtime. The present workplace no longer comprises of traditional hierarchy system. It is more open and complex. Thus, the personality traits and characteristic strategies required for the management of this workplace also has to change. In the current study, present day work cultures of business organisations will be studied with respect to various topics of organisation behaviour. The purpose of the assignment is to evaluate the influence of various organisational topics in maintaining a successful workplace culture. Topics such as organisational culture, leadership and ethics in business will be studied. Through specific examples, the study will also evaluate whether these topics have helped the workplace in becoming more tolerant and open or not. Since the topic of interest is vast, the study i s not limited to a specific region or country but evaluated in a global context. Looking at the drastic change in business environment, it can be arguably said that workplace has changed in every sense. As a result of globalisation and international alignments, more and more diversity can be found in the workplace. As a result people can easily adapt situation now. Also, the issues and problems arising in case of this culture are also complex. These issues cannot be handled by traditional methods and need new understanding and better techniques. Thus, the overall approach of the study will be to understand the present day work culture with respect to the selected topics and evaluate their affect on overall culture of an organisation. Leadership The competitive environment for business has changed drastically in last two decades due to various reasons like resource contingency, globalization, increase in buyer power etc. Academic scholars have pointed out that organizations need righ t form of leadership in order to survive in the changing competitive environment. Research scholars like Alas, Tafel and Tuulik (2007) have stated that leadership depends on personal traits of an individual such as behaviour, relationship with subordinates, interaction pattern with subordinates, influencing capability, ability to motivate people to perform well, influence on culture of the organization etc. Groves (2007) has proposed that systematic effort is needed in order to develop leadership quality among individuals. Ryan and Deci (2000) have revealed that social-contextual conditions boost psychological development and self-motivation and these two factors increase self efficacy among individuals. According to them self efficacy is an important aspect of leadership. Leadership as a concept has itself evolved over time. As a result of the increasing competition, pressure, managers are expecting much more from these leaders. Modern day leaders are expected to show few definite qualities which will complement the current open and tolerant work culture. Few of these characteristics are extroversion, ability to show respect, decision making capability and ability to take decisions that are ethically responsible. In the next section discussion will be held on how these characteristics have influenced the modern day culture of workplace. Extroversion is an important characteristic for a successful leader. Judge, Heller and Mount (2002) have stated that extroversion is linked with the positive emotions of a leader. Generally extrovert leaders are gregarious and sociable whereas introverts tend to be

A Dialogue Over Marijuana And Its Characteristics Assignment

A Dialogue Over Marijuana And Its Characteristics - Assignment Example So I reached my classroom, drew a marijuana leaf, for class 11 students they thought in their current affairs class they would be discussing biology. However, they were soon proved wrong to their utter surprise. I stood firm to the ground and raised the following question to the students: â€Å"Who here thinks that Marijuana should be legalized in Europe and the rest of the world†? Many of them did not know what I was talking about, so I explained the herb and its characteristics. As everyone else would have thought, they came to the conclusion that this was a drug and they better stay away from it. Which was the point basically. However, quite of a few of them wanted to know about it more and wanted to try it before making any judgements about it. One kid asked the obvious question which was going to come up sooner or later. â€Å"Is it our right to smoke Marijuana?† Well, that question brought me back to the various arguments and confrontations I have had with people over the legal right to smoke Marijuana. ... I told my students that freedom always comes at a price. If you are willing to pay the price then you can go ahead and enjoy the freedom. However, it is pertinent to note that people in my class were reluctant to question the system as it stood there. Not many of them really thought that it was worth the spending time. I mean, why would anyone want to indulge in an illegal activity of smoking pot when one knows that he can be arrested for this? Not many were willing to take th steps and I don’t blame them. Introspection: The reason why I spoke about marijuana is very peculiar to what I think is the true value of freedom. In today’s world there are quite a few rebels out there. Not many peple aer ready to question he system and those who do have no understanding or aim to reach somewhere. Marijuana is long been known as a recreational drug. It is not really a drug, but a more recreational medicine which was used abundantly in medieval India. People in India like sadhus a nd saints used to smoke this leaf over and over again and derived great pleasure out of this. They were extremely intellectual and were always ahead of their times, not because they smoked pot, but because they were inherently like this and it catapulted them to smoking pot for recreational usage. The irony has become now that the USA whose ideology was founded by men who smoked pot ended up banning the same drug. They were not ready to allow its existence, mostly because at that time due to the external industrial forces smoking marijuana had already become an illegal and taboo thing to do. Reaction: As a teacher I am always on the lookout for students that have the knack to do something about their present in order to improve their future and utilize the best of every

Natural resources in Thailand (RICE) Assignment

Natural resources in Thailand (RICE) - Assignment Example This has forced the government though its agencies to introduce policies like Bangkok Declaration on Mitigation of climate change to deal with pollution within the city of Bangkok. The private and public companies are encouraged to adopt green methods of transportation and production. As the result of the research I have done, the paper provides a reflection part that highlights the skills I have gained. Another section that the paper has included is the recommendations that I would provide for a company that I work as a leader. These touches on corporate social responsibility, employee training, improved wages and improved health care for farmers. Within the conclusion part, the paper indicates some of the most important issues that have been covered. With the increased global population, most countries have resulted to diversification of food products in order to have ability to feed their population thus enhancing their productivity. One of the food products that are common in developing as well as developed countries is rice. In Thailand, rice production represents a significant size of the country’s economy and labor force. Thailand has more than 9.2 million hectares of rice growing areas and the government is contemplating on increasing the hectares. One of the major reason as to why more farmers are now engaging on rice production is the support by the government after elimination of rice premium policy that discriminated the peasant farmers (Evenson, Robert, Mahabub, 1996). The government has adopted strong incentives for rice production an aspect that has made other stakeholders such as World Bank to provide similar support. In Thailand society, rice is central. Apart from being the source of nutrition for most of the households, it is the major export that has resulted to economic growth and increased job opportunities. Thailand is among the top five nations in rice cultivation and the second largest rice exporter in the world.

International business management and strategy Essay

International business management and strategy - Essay Example The car industry is buoyant. Recent data from Centro Studi Promotor (CSP) notes that the sale of new cars in Italy in 2005 totaled 2,234,174.This reflects the general buoyancy considering the increased gasoline prices, the weak economic situation and the fiscal burden on car ownership. This is the ninth consecutive year that new car sales in Italy have exceeded 2,230,000 which proves that the market is relatively stable. Italian brands lost 1.46% while foreign brands lost 1.30%.Italian brands (the dominant Fiat Auto Spa) claimed 28.04% of the market share and manufactured four out of every ten best selling cars. The main international brands included-GM (Opel and Chevrolet), Ford (Ford+Mazda+Land Rover+ Volvo), Volkswagen (Volkswagen+Audi+Skoda). The fiscal burden on the ownership of cars is a stark reality. In 2003, the Government hiked taxes on luxury cars and sports utility vehicles in a bid to reduce the deficit budget and control pollution. Vehicles weighing more than 2600 kilos were subject to higher taxes. The chief components of the generic strategy are-cost leadership, differentiation and market segmentation.

List Comparing And Contrasting Benefits And Burdens Of Industrialization Essay Example for Free

List Comparing And Contrasting Benefits And Burdens Of Industrialization Essay Industrialization in the first place led to increased production, through the dynamic changes in modes of production whereby it replaced the human labor with machines. This enlarged the societies from agricultural to industrial based societies. However though beneficial these industries over time have impacted negatively on the environment as they lead to environmental pollution e. g. through their emissions of harmful oxides into the atmosphere. It led to the development of cities and towns thus contributing to rural urban migrations by people to seek jobs/ employment in the cities. This movement to towns resulted to urbanization. Since now that the industries used machines production improved and became faster. This in return impacted negatively as more items were produced in bulky, leading to reduction of their market prices, as explained by the theory of supply and demand, â€Å" the higher the supply the lower the demand† (Hamilton 1995) Industrialization also led to expansion of trade and businesses throughout the world by offering a medium of transportation i.  e. through the rail roads. Due to this there was need for construction of more railroads which then created employment to the members of the society. During these constructions there was heavy clearance of vegetation, trees and forests to create enough space for building the roads and raw materials manufacturing industries. This resulted to environmental degradation as trees were fallen and the soil left bare. To add on the it resulted to pollution from the trains using the roads. Industrialization brought about new technology of learning that is writing in books, thus establishing paper manufacturing industries. This contributed to knowledge and ideas acquisition however it is disadvantageous in that it led to clearance of many tree species for pulp resulting to deforestation and species extinction. Reference Wolfgang. S, Angela. D. ( 1995). Disenchanted Night: The Industrialization of Light in the Nineteenth Century. Published by University of California Press: San Diego